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Customer Reviews of Johnny Reno

Interesting A.C. Lyles Western with veteran cast
Dana Andrews is U.S. Marshal Johnny Reno in this 1960's A.C. Lyles Western. He rides into Stone Junction with his prisoner Joe Connors (Tom Drake) much to the resentment of some of the local townspeople who attempt to break into the jail to lynch Connors. With the help of Sheriff Hodges (Lon Chaney Jr.) and old girl friend Nona Williams (Jane Russell) Reno holds them off and faces the angry mob to protect his prisoner. Reno can't understand why the townspeople should want to kill Connors but then he discovers that the town has a guilty secret and they want to silence Connors who they think might reveal this.

Some favourite lines from the film:

John Agar (to Jane Russell): "He used to be one of the top gunfighters". Russell: "He used to be a lot of things!".

Dana Andrews (to Lyle Bettger): "I'm particular who I drink with".

Tom Drake (to Andrews): "You can't fight a whole town single handed Reno".

A.C. Lyles produced many second feature Westerns at Paramount during the 1960's and "Johnny Reno" was just one of them. However, they were all worth seeing mainly due to the fine actors that A.C. always used in his films (even in the smallest roles). Take a look at the credits for "Johnny Reno" for example:- Dana Andrews, Jane Russell, Lon Chaney Jr, Tom Drake, Lyle Bettger, John Agar, Richard Arlen, Robert Lowery, and (in an uncredited role) De Forrest Kelley. Quite an impressive cast for a second feature Western I would say. Apart from producing the film A.C. also had a hand in the story. Now in his 80's, A.C. Lyles still has an office on the Paramount lot which he visits most days. A.C. can often be seen on TV currently being interviewed for the excellent "Biography" series with his recollections of the "Golden Years of Hollywood" and the stars he knew personally from that era. One of A.C.'s closest friends was James Cagney who only directed one film in his entire career and that was "Short Cut to Hell" (1957) which he did purely as a favour for A.C. Lyles to get him started as a producer. (The film was an efficient remake of the Alan Ladd classic "This Gun For Hire"). Cagney also did the narration for another A.C. Lyles production "Arizona Bushwhackers" - again as a favour for A.C. "Johnny Reno" was directed by R.G. Springsteen who specialised in making competent low budget Westerns. He directed several other A.C. Lyles films including "Hostile Guns", "Black Spurs", "Waco", "Red Tomahawk" etc and also directed many TV series Westerns such as "Bonanza", "Wagon Train" and "Gunsmoke". If you are a Western fan take a look at "Johnny Reno" and some of the other A.C. Lyles movies as they might be of interest.