Edward Bernds is best known for helming Three Stooges' movies, such as "Gold Raiders," "The Three Stooges Meet Hercules," and "The Three Stooges in Orbit." Mind you, Bernds dabbled in other genres, such as science fiction with "The Queen of Outer Space" and "Space Master X-7." He also made his share of westerns, including "The Storm Rider," "Escape from Red Rock," as well as episodes from "Colt .45" and "Sugarfoot." "Quantrill's Raiders" appears to be his only historical oater, and loosely based on the exploits of the partisan Confederate guerrilla raider stretches the bounds of reality considerably. Of course, it is no surprise that Hollywood would embroider history, and "Quantrill's Raiders" is no exception. This concise Civil War western depicts the events leading up to and including the infamous raid on Lawrence, Kansas. In this version of the events, Quantrill commands an outfit that numbers less than 30 riders, and his men and he are wiped out when they attack Lawrence due to the foresight of an undercover Confederate captain under General Sterling Price who demands that Quantrill confined his depredations to military objects. Captain Alan 'Wes' Westcott (Steve Cochran of "White Heat") is a Confederate spy masquerading as a former Union soldier, Michael Davis, who plans to see horses to the commandant when he rides into Lawrence under an assumed identity. Westcott's masquerade initially succeeds in part because he tags along with a Union patrol that encounters an ambush set up by Quantrill. He saves the commander of the patrol and cuts a dashing figure until fire with his twin six-guns. Of course, virtually all of the small arms in this movie are anachronistic. The casting of veteran tough guy Leo V. Gordon as the notorious guerrilla renegade is probably the best thing about "Quantrill's Raiders," which boils down basically to being little more than a conventional horse opera taking place in the Civil War.
"The Raiders" scenarist Polly James sanitizes history significantly by allowing Union authorities to dispatch Quantrill at Lawrence in 1863. He died a couple of years after the raid. Moreover, his trigger-happy raiders don't put the town to the torch and slay hundreds as they did in real life. The Lawrence raid went down in history as one of the most lethal incursions during the border combat in the Civil War. Our dubious hero clashes with Quantrill because the eponymous villain wants to loot the town like a terrorist rather than carry out military initiatives. At one point, Westcott trifles with Quantrill's own woman, but she meets her death trying to help him. Meantime, our hero has another filly in his stable, Sue Walters (Diane Brewster of "Black Patch"), who it turns out was once involved with Quantrill. She runs the boarding house where Westcott hangs his hat. History buff so American Civil War films may dismiss this 72-minute shenanigan, while western fans may find it tolerable. The production values for this Allied Artist release are above-average, and you'll spot several familiar faces, such as Will Wright, Myron Healy, Glenn Strange, and Lane Chandler. The John Wayne western "Dark Command," the Clint Eastwood oater "The Outlaw Josey Wales," and Ang Lee's "Ride with the Devil" starring Tobey Maguire are better films about this turbulent time. Probably the most incredible thing about this routine undercover operation oater is that the Union commander doesn't have our hero shot as a spy, presumably because he warned the citizens of Lawrence about Quantrill's impending raid. It doesn't help matters that Westcott behaves in a dastardly fashion when he engineers his escape from the Lawrence jail by holding a knife to the throat of a young stable boy with whom he is friends. Guess you can get away with anything in Hollywood.
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