a5c7b9f00b When two US cavalrymen transporting a gold shipment get killed, US Army Intelligence investigator John Haven goes undercover to a mining and logging town to find the killers. Dick Powell starsHaven, a government private investigator assigned to investigate the murders of two cavalrymen. Travelling incognito, Haven arrives in a small frontier outpost, where saloon singer Charlie controls all illegal activities. After making short work of Charlie&#39;s burly henchman, Haven gets a job at her gambling emporium, biding his time and gathering evidence against the gorgeous crime chieftain Casta philosophical bartender, Burl Ives is afforded at least one opportunity to sing. In the movie they Might Be Giants, a delusional jurist explains that he loves westerns because they show the clear delineation between right and wrong, which is when I realized why I vastly prefer mysteries to westerns; I like a more complex world view in which the good and evil dichotomy is not so apparent.<br/><br/>Station West is a rather unusual movie in that it looks like a western and has a western-themed score but in terms of story and acting is more akin to 40s tough-guy detective flicks, with more moral ambiguity than you&#39;d see in a John Ford movie. It&#39;s not dark enough to be called film noir, but it has some of those elements, and the relationship of Haven and Charlie is very Hammett-Chandleresque.<br/><br/>The movie is enjoyable and briskly paced, with good performances and decent dialog. At the same time, Powell is a bit too unsympathetic for me, with a fairly callous disregard for the results of his actions. And the plotting is a little lazy, with that convoluted, poorly explained style you get in most of the Philip Marlowe films. But if you like 40s detective movies this is a good bet. In the Films of Dick Powell, it&#39;s pointed out that Powell had done a western only twice before in his musical period. Cowboy from Brooklyn and Riding High had modern western settings.<br/><br/>Only Station West was done during Powell&#39;s timea noir star and he brings the genre west with him. Done in the obligatory black and white photography, Station West is a moody atmospheric thriller.<br/><br/>It&#39;s not a mystery because you pretty much know who the bad guys are early on. But it does show Powell&#39;s dogged determination to find out who committed a gold robbery in which two soldiers were killed while guarding the shipment.<br/><br/>Powell gets good support from Jane Greertown saloon owner, Agnes Mooreheada mine owner, and Raymond Burra shyster attorney. Burr is a revelation. Usually the villains he did before doing Perry Mason are pretty strong characters. He&#39;s quite the weakling here.<br/><br/>Powell never made another western feature film, but his Four Star Productions produced Zane Grey Theatre in the Fifties on television and Powell himself appeared in many of the half hour stories.
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