In his fourth western, Kirk Douglas finds a role that fits his personality to a tee, one which allows him to jaunt and joke, sing and dance, prove his worth as a dramatic actor and display his newfound acumen in the western traditions of roping, riding and shooting.  Douglas, the self-confessed Man Without a Star (1955), is Dempsey Rae, a drifter from Texas who finds himself in the middle of a Wyoming range war.

Dempsey is an easygoing cowpoke who takes a job working at the biggest spread in Wyoming, along with a new friend named Jeff (William Campbell).  The new owner (Jeanne Crain) arrives with plans to triple the livestock inventory despite its effects on the local ranchers.  Dempsey and Jeff eventually choose opposite sides of the brewing range war, which is complicated when hired killer Richard Boone arrives from Texas.

The movie has some fine dramatic moments, a fair share of action and is beautifully filmed in color, but its biggest asset is its sense of humor.  Douglas is perfect teaching his young friend the codes of the west and how to quick draw, while flirting with the new owner and speculating about the newfangled indoor plumbing in her home.  Everything is an adventure to the cowpoke, at least until barbed wire comes into the picture.  Then it turns serious.

The movie addresses the closing of the west’s open ranges, but doesn’t provide any easy solutions to it.  The new owner is seen as monumentally greedy, yet Douglas admits that she has a right to be, as any number of men would be in her position. The script is sharp and witty and the violence that results from the conflict is grim. And the climax is perhaps too abrupt and does not concretely settle the conflict, despite a dramatic fist fight.  Man Without a Star is a well-made, entertaining western which provides Kirk Douglas with one of his signature roles and a great deal of humorous things to do and say.  My rating:  ✰ ✰ ✰.  (7:2).