CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Spikeopath The Plunderers is directed by Joseph Pevney and written by Bob Barbash. It stars Jeff Chandler, John Saxon, Dolores Hart, Marsha Hunt and Jay C. Flippen. Music is by Leonard Rosenman and cinematography by Eugene Polito.Trail City, and 4 delinquent cowboys ride into town with attitude and carefree abandon. The Trail City residents - spineless, all except one man. One man who considers himself only half a man on account of his disability. That man is Civil War veteran Captain Sam...War didn't just destroy his arm.The few critical appraisals and reviews that exist for The Plunderers are keen to associate the picture with other notable pictures released previously, which in this instance is something of a curse when they happen to be well revered classics. Yet this is no knock off, it has its own identity. The four young delinquents here are not dashing dandy types, the makers make every effort to put their failings as human beings up at the front of the portrayals. These are young men, out of their depth, even spineless, but of course the town doesn't know this as they are too busy cowering in the shadows.The messages are obvious in the play, but Pevney doesn't use his sledgehammer to enforce those parts of the narrative. It's perhaps no surprise how things pan out with Chandler's embittered war veteran, as he wrestles with both his conscience and his disability, but Pevney has a good knack for slow burning the atmosphere to bring rewards for film's finale. Chandler, in his last Western, is suitably broody, Hunt and Hart are beauties to behold, while of the bad boys it's Saxon as a diabolical Mexican - with scary eyebrows - and the only one who is old enough to shave, who strikes the highest villain chords.Elsewhere there's a great musical score provided by double Academy Award Winner Rosenman, very much akin to something that the moody Twilight Zone episodes would use. It also at times has the feel of the score Alan Silvestri would rustle up for Predator some 27 years later. Polito's photography is crisp, where in conjunction with Pevney's camera angles and lighting techniques keeps the claustrophobia factor high in this one location setting.Crackerjack! A dandy of a black and white Oater waiting to be discovered by more Western fans. It's a keeper for sure. 8/10

bsmith5552 "The Plunderers" is essentially Marlon Brando's "The Wild One' (1953) in a western setting. Four youths having been run out of Dodge City, happen upon a sleepy little town in the middle of nowhere. They are led by Jeb Tyler (Ray Sticklyn) a young man with a chip on his shoulder. Riding with him are the hulking "Mule" Thompson (Roger Torrey), the Mexican Rondo (John Saxon) and Davy (Dee Pollock) the youngest of the gang.The gang sees an opportunity to take over the town when they are shown little resistance when they refuse to pay for their drinks from saloon owner Mike Barron (James Westerfield), for their new clothes from store owner Jess Walters (Vaughn Taylor) and for their hotel rooms from hotel owner Kate Miller (Marsha Hunt).Town sheriff McCauley (Jay C. Flippen) tries to reason with the gang but is unsuccessful. The town then turns to one-armed civil war hero Sam Christy (Jeff Chandler) for help. At first he refuses to get involved despite pleas from former girl friend Kate and the store keeper's daughter Ellie (Dolores Hart). Rondo has eyes for the young Ellie but her heart it seems belongs to Sam.Eventually, Sam agrees to help leading to a confrontation with the gang and.............The film has fine cast but curiously John Saxon, who is billed second over the title, has only a secondary role here. Jeff Chandler gives a fine performance as the one armed reluctant hero although Dolores Hart seems a little too young for the grey haired Chandler. Ray Stricklyn is a little James Deanish as the chief baddie. Veterans Jay C. Flippen and James Westerfield stand out among the supporting cast.I guess by now every one knows that Dolores Hart left the glamour of Hollywood and her fiancé to enter a convent where she remains to this day.Not to be confused with the 1948 film of the same name.

Lee Novak I liked the Plunderers.A group of PUNKS ride into town and show the Cowardice Citizens a thing or two. This is NOT an unusual occurrence in life.trying to mind his own business is the One-Armed Civil War hero played by Jeff Chandler.He's lives in this town that has disgraced and ostracized him,when the line is drawn,he comes to his heroics. Interesting piece,that later became "The Incident" a 1967 movie on the NYC Subway with this time only 2 Punks showing the cowardice of the Subway riders. Naturally the Town Re-makes the Chandler character their hero "Again" and he rides out AGAIN. Not a lot of people are aware of this little gem. I have a thing for Low Budget westerns that take place in more or less 1 location,which brings even MORE excitement.

Michael O'Keefe Four young hoodlums ride into a tiny town of 50 and the terror begins. The townsfolk are too old to really fight back and their only hope is for a man(Jeff Chandler)with only one useful arm to take them on. Predictable, but interesting. Chandler is supported by: John Saxon, Dolores Hart, J.C. Flippen, Marsha Hunt and Ray Stricklyn.NOTE: Hart gave Elvis his first screen kiss in LOVING YOU(1957). She starred with him again in KING CREOLE(1958). Hart entered a convent in Connecticut in 1963.