DAWN AT SOCORRO
US, 1954, 80 minutes, Colour.
Rory Calhoun, Piper Laurie, David Brian, Edgar Buchanan, Lee Van Cleef.
Directed by George Sherman.
Dawn at Socorro is one of the many small-budget yet well-made and entertaining westerns from Universal in the '50s. Rory Calhoun and Piper Laurie had appeared in the bright musical Ain't Misbehavin' and were regulars in this kind of film. The material is conventional but is treated well. It has echoes of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and the elements of the legends of the West: gamblers reforming, girls being reformed from saloons, villains and shoot-outs. Direction is by George Sherman who made a number of these films over several decades.
1. Entertaining western? The small-budget short-running of the '50s and their impact now? A piece of Americana?
2. Colour photography, the atmosphere of Lordsburg and Socorro? The West? The town? Saloons,'2 The streets? Special effects? The score?
3. The expected conventions of the genre and the way they were used? The night at Lordsburg and the shoot-out? The build-up of vengeance? The wealthy gambler and his control? The reformed gambler and his final shooting? Audience interest? Better done than usual or not?
4. The atmosphere of history and legend? The flashback giving the events some solemnity? The background of this kind of shoot-out in the history of the West? The material of legend and American understanding of their western heritage?
5. Wade as hero? Gambling at Lordsburg, his supporting the law, the wound and the shoot-out and the discovery of his illness, his going to Socorro, his intentions to reform, the encounter with Ronnah? His staying at Socorro for her? The conflict with Braden? The suspense of the poker game? The final shoot-out and the happy ending? A conventional western hero?
6. Ronnah and her father's accusations against her, her going to the saloon, promises of help by Braden? Her not being at home in the saloon? The poker game and the gamble for her? The shoot-out and her decision to go with Wade?
7. Braden and his wealth, gambling, promises to Ronnah, the clash with Wade, the poker game and his winning, his vengeance and the shoot-out?
8. The background of the Ferris family and the shoot-outs in Lordsburg? The Mc Nairs and their trying to keep law and order? The arbitrariness of shoot-outs in the West? Deaths and vengeance? Rapp as the professional gunfighter? His drinking? His vengeance against Wade? His death?
9. The sheriff and his trying to manage the town? The old man and the influence of Braden? Friendship for Wade?
10. The conventional picture of the saloons, the typical people in the West, the law of the gun, the administration of justice? The violent heritage of the American West?
