Alcoholic Matt Ballot (Steve Cochran) abandoned his wife Bess (Ann Sheridan) and mute daughter Annie (Sherry Jackson) in Arkansas nine years ago. Now sober, he returns to discover Bess gave birth to a son, Abe (Richard Eyer), after he left. Bess grudgingly hires him as a handyman.
Hytower (Sonny Tufts) wants to marry Bess and tries to make Matt jealous and picks a fight with him. Matt endears himself to his kids by defending them from wild pigs and a group of local bullies. He risks Annie's love by admitting that she was in the car when he drunkenly wrecked it. Although she was unhurt, she never spoke again. Annie embraces him. Matt later saves a child and Annie during an approaching tornado.
Bess is upset when Matt has a single drink at a dance to prove he can stop at just one drink. Matt rescues her when, overcome by emotion, she accidentally drives her truck into a river. Annie falls into an old mine shaft, but Matt rescues her. Bess finally admits she is back in love with Matt.
A 1956 American Trucolor romantic drama film directed by R. G. Springsteen, produced by Herbert J. Yates and Steve Cochran, written by Montgomery Pittman, cinematography by Jack A. Marta, starring Ann Sheridan, Steve Cochran, Walter Brennan, Sherry Jackson, Richard Eyer, Edgar Buchanan, Sonny Tufts, Harry Shannon, James Westmoreland, Mae Clarke, Roscoe Ates, Wade Ruby, and James Best. Final screen appearance of Dorothy Bernard. Released by Republic Pictures.
Steve Cochran in a nice change of pace from the brooding thugs he normally played. While he certainly had the physique and dangerous air required for those roles there was also an underlying gentleness to his screen presence that is well utilized here. Steve Cochran (1917 - 1965), born Robert Alexander Cochran, was an American film, television and stage actor. While he appeared in high school plays, he spent more time delving into athletics, particularly basketball. After stints as a cowpuncher and railroad station hand, he studied at the University of Wyoming, where he also played basketball. Impulsively, he quit college in 1937 and decided to go straight to Hollywood to become a star, and gradually progressed to Broadway, film and television. Cochran was rejected for military service in World War II because of a heart murmur, but he directed and performed in plays at a variety of Army camps. Samuel Goldwyn brought Cochran to Hollywood in 1945. Goldwyn made only a few films a year, so he loaned Cochran to Columbia Pictures for "Booked on Suspicion" (1945), a Boston Blackie movie. Goldwyn then used Cochran in another Danny Kaye movie with Mayo and Vera-Ellen, "The Kid from Brooklyn" (1946). After United Artists borrowed him to play a gangster in "The Chase" (1946), Cochran appeared in the prestigious drama "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946), playing a man who has an affair with a woman played by Virginia Mayo that continues even after her husband (played by Dana Andrews) returns from war. In 1949 Cochran went over to Warner Bros.
Steve Cochran formed Robert Alexander Productions after his actual first two names, which attempted to make some television series, and "The Tom Mix Story" (with Cochran as Mix). This was his first production, written by Cochran's friend Montgomery Pittman and featuring Pittman's stepdaughter Sherry Jackson. Filmed in locations around Sacramento, Republic promised Cochran an "A Picture" release but released it as the lower half of a double feature, prompting The Hollywood Reporter to run an item declaring, "Wake up, Republic. You have another Marty (1955) on your hands... Or don't you care?".
Ann Sheridan said that this film was her favorite among those in which she played. She was also disappointed that the film was not released in a better way.
Max Steiner wrote the score for the film, reusing much of his work from "Sergeant York" (1941).
Soundtrack musić:
"Come Next Spring" - Music by Max Steiner, Lyrics by Lenny Adelson, Sung by Tony Bennett, Arranged by Percy Faith, and Sung by Bob London, Arranged by Ned Freeman
"Arkansas Traveler" - Music by Sanford Faulkner
"Little Brown Jug" - Written by Joseph Winner
"God Moves in a Mysterious Way" - Words by William Cowper
The theme song, "Come Next Spring" was covered by Scott Walker on his album "Scott 2" (1968).
The Village Voice, Farran Smith Nehme wrote, "Both [Sheridan and Cochran] give lovely performances; their first reunion, delivered with clean sincerity, is a marvel of things left unsaid," adding that "the movie is sentimental in a way that shouldn’t be taken as a pejorative."
A review of the film by Gina Telaroli for Mubi described it as "quite a frank film that deals with some pretty rough stuff, like how devastatingly hard it can be to trust someone who has betrayed you," and having "a great Walter Brennan performance" with a "terrifying cliff-bound scene at the end."
If you liked "The Waltons" or "Little House on the Prairie," you should enjoy this charming piece of Americana.