Lyle Bettger is one of those stalwarts whose names probably mean nothing to most average filmgoers but who enjoy instant recognition on the screen…

Bettger was far better knows as a blond, blue-eyed villain given to exuding pathological hated... His good looks worked for him in every determined effort, even as a menacing villain with a snickering charm...

Dana Andrews plays Marshal Johnny Reno, who used to be one of the top gunfighters… He just arrived with a prisoner called Joe Conners (Tom Drake) considered by the citizens of Stone Junction as a little Indian-killer…

Of course the Mayor of the town Jess Yates (Buttger) assures the marshal that Conners will be given a fair trial and asked him to get out of the town fast…

In spite of hearing that the lynch mob will be out there and one way or another they'll get Conners, the tough marshal tells everybody that his prisoner is in his protective custody and anybody who wants to get to him is going to have to step over his dead body…

That day, the way it happened—before the Connors mess—Reno was riding to see somebody he once knew, Nona Williams (Jane Russell). He knew the woman years before when he was the righteous lawman in the town where she lived… He has been wearing a badge ever since… Nona made a mistake and he couldn't forgive her…

Lon Chaney Jr shows up as a sheriff who forgets that his job is law and order…

Filmed in Technicolor and Panavision, "Johnny Reno" remains a tedious little Western worth a matinée

Johnny Reno is directed by R.G. Springsteen and written by Steve Fisher and Andrew Craddock. It stars Dana Andrews, Jane Russell, Lyle Bettger, Lon Chaney Jr., John Agar and Tom Drake. A Technicolor/Techniscope production, with music by Jimmie Haskell (title tune song by Jerry Wallace) and cinematography by Harold Stine.

Andrews is Johnny Reno, a tough no nonsense U.S. Marshal who after arresting suspected Indian killer Joe Conners (Drake), takes him to the jail in Stone Junction in Kansas. But once there Johnny finds a hostile and corrupt town that want Conners lynched before trial. Why? Does this town have a secret? Is Conners really as innocent as he proclaims? Reno must stand alone against the town to find the truth.

Safe Western film making 101, Johnny Reno has just enough about it to keep it from stinker status. There's a fine cast involved, but they are either winding down their long careers or merely going through the motions. The direction is standard fare, with the action sequences constructed only adequately, and the musical score is at times more befitting a comedy serial episode.

Yet the premise, as simple as it is, plays out well for dramatic purpose. Reno is a two fisted hard bastard type of guy, and it's fun to watch him tackle the whole of Stone Junction, including, naturally, affairs of the heart by way of Russell's Nona Williams. The narrative has some observations on corruption, racism and vigilantism that are to be applauded, while the Techniscope photography around Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park is most easy on the eye.

It is what it is, a Western in the late 60s trying to keep with the formula traditions of the "B" grade Oaters from the previous decade. It succeeds on that front for sure, where even though it has plenty of faults, it's a decent enough time waster for fans of the stars or those who like the said undemanding Westerns of the 50s. 6/10