I first learned about this 1955 modern western as I was researching my Korean War film reference book.  Based on a novel by Luke Short called Silver Lode, the film chronicles a Korean War veteran’s efforts to build a life after the war by involving himself in a tungsten mining operation in a dusty western town.  Incidentally, the film only rated a brief mention in the book because no Korean War action is shown; the movie takes place wholly in the American west.

Tully Gibbs (Rod Cameron) arrives at Azurite to meet the father of a deceased war buddy and soon becomes embroiled in a power struggle between the elderly miner (Chill Wills) he came to visit and a wealthy mining magnate and town bully (John Russell) who knows the potential value of the mine and wants it for himself.  Gibbs stokes the heated conflict by dating the bully’s favorite girl, played charismatically by Joan Leslie.

Virtually unknown today, this hard-to-find movie is smartly paced by director Joe Kane, features two terrific fights with Cameron and Russell, boasts snappy dialogue and a few story twists.  The Luke Short novel is good but this little movie is its equal. As is the case with many lower budget features, Hell’s Outpost (which is an admittedly unfortunate title) showcases quite a few familiar faces: Ben Cooper, Barton MacLane, Kristine Miller and Jim Davis.  Rod Cameron is as stalwart as a steel girder, and Chill Wills even sings one of his undecipherable campfire songs at a town dance, “Packin’ the Mail.”  All in all, it’s a nice, modest, fun little movie.  My rating: ✰ ✰ ✰.  (6:1).