Springfield Rifle

Gary Cooper going undercover in a Union cavalry western. Good action, and a fine popcorn movie, but considering this one came out the same year as his High Noon (1952), you can sense how different a movie is when going more for a entertainment purpose than with a deeper meaning. And that's not necessary a knock on Springfield Rifle (1952), for it is a quality picture. Just an example of how different the buttons can be pushed to make the characters more dimensional.

If cinema existed during the Civil War, I reckon this is what Union propaganda would look like. Gary Cooper's ambiguous loyalties wind up being a lot less interesting than one might expect, and by the end it pretty much turns into a commercial for Springfield's breech-loading rifles. Its saving grace is an enjoyable performance by Lon Chaney Jr., but otherwise it's a bland dud of a Western.