Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Alex da Silva Stanger Dick Powell (Haven) rides into a Western town and isn't particularly pleasant. He doesn't endear himself to anyone and this sets him up for a confrontation with the local thug Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (Mick). There is plenty of gold being stored near the town and people are getting robbed and killed transporting it. Powell gets himself a job that is close to the action and his mission is to fight for the good guys. There is, of course, a woman on the scene in the form of Jane Greer (Charlie).Powell is a man who acts alone and he has a lot to take on. It's a big plate. The cast all do fine but the story gets a little complicated and I lost the thread for a while about two-thirds of the way through. I watched to see what happens but the film doesn't give you anything new. It's a Western so it pans out with shooting and people riding horses. It's ok and pretty predictable stuff to watch. I would have liked to see Powell do some singing but instead that task is given to Burl Ives. It's a corny touch as we hear him singing about what is happening in the film. A device that cheapens the film.Still, it's a tough guy film experience with a man who acts alone and you never feel that he is going to fail in what he needs to do. The stranger rides into town and rides out again.

dougdoepke Good scenic Western that applies the 40's private eye premise to a frontier setting. Powell does his 40's hard case number effectively, while Greer does her slinky spider woman bit. In fact, you have to look twice to make sure this isn't a Spade or a Marlowe. Powell's an undercover investigator on the trail of whoever knocked over an army shipment and killed the guards. In town are a lot of suspicious characters, including Greer and Burr, but suspicion isn't enough. Some good touches, especially the Sedona, AZ, locations, scenically filmed in b&w and lending an atmospheric note. And catch the middle-age romance between Powers and Moorehead, not exactly a staple of standard Westerns, especially for perennial spinster Moorehead. Also, there's nervous lawyer Burr, about as far away from lawyer Perry Mason as it gets. But what I really like is the way the movie works Burl Ives and his catchy tune into the narrative. It's very smoothly and pleasantly done.I don't know that there's anything special here, although the story ends on an unconventionally downbeat note. In passing-- I gather from TCM that director Lanfield gave Greer a bad time because she wasn't the preferred Marlene Dietrich. Too bad because Greer manages in one package to be both conniving and poignant, no mean acting trick.

beejer Dick Powell was a musical comedy star in the 30's who in 1944 made a dramatic career change when he switched to hard-boiled private eye/cop roles. Station West, his only western, is basically this character in a western setting. Make no mistake, Station West is a good western.Powell plays an undercover army officer trying to find out who murdered two soldiers while stealing a gold shipment (No not the Gold Diggers of 1933). Along the way he meets Jane Greer as a business like saloon owner who may not be what she seems to be. One of the best moments in the film is the knock down drag out fight Powell has with Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, playing a villain this time around. At first, after Powell knocks him down in the saloon, Williams utters a classic line: "You're too small to have made such a big mistake".Other notables in the cast include Raymond Burr as a cowardly lawyer, Agnes Moorehead as Powell's "contact", Tom Powers as the army commander, Powell regular Regis Toomey as an undercover agent and an unbilled Burl Ives as a guitar strumming hotel clerk.The black and white photography is excellent, particularly in the outdoor scenes. Station West raises the question as to why Powell didn't make more westerns. This was a good one.

Eric Chapman This excellent Western is really a tough film noir cleverly set in the Old West. The dialogue is sublime, so razor sharp that the actors probably had to bandage their hands after reading the script. And there are interesting little details as well; for instance, the way Dick Powell condescendingly pats attractive women on the arm (the way you might a pet) to let them know who's really in control. (Or so he'd like to think.) Toss in a first rate supporting cast that includes Raymond Burr, Burl Ives, and Agnes Moorehead - all generously given their scenes to shine - and you've got one heck of a movie.On the surface, Dick Powell, as the undercover military officer trying to solve a series of gold robberies, is an unlikely leading man. He's more commanding here than many square-jawed actors, and when the film is over it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role.This is one of those extremely satisfying movies where nothing seems forced or labored. It has that effortless fluidity and clearness of purpose that makes it just as entertaining today as I'm sure it was 50 years ago.