Cinema: The Oaters

A western never misses. The actors and director may be untalented, the budget low, but the movie camera always finds some beauty and some excitement in galloping horses and sweeping landscapes. Since The Great Train Robbery (1903), Hollywood has made a steady, handsome income—and taken frequent expensive flyers—on what the trade calls "oaters" (TIME, April 29). There is still no sign of a letup.

David 0. Selznick's Duel in the Sun, with all its dazzling cast and alleged $7 million cost, is nonetheless a horse opera. So are Howard Hughes's The Outlaw (which...