Tony Mastroianni Review Collection
"Rare Breed" Isn't -- as a Motion Picture
Cleveland Press April 8, 1966
"Rare Breed" is colorful, action - filled, and wholesome enough to take the kids to see, short enough for parents to sit through without either party getting restless.
Otherwise, it is neither great, convincing nor very memorable.
What it has are a number of loose ends that never get tied together. The story is simple enough, but someone thought it ought to be more involved to justify making a feature - length movie out of it.
THE RARE BREED of the title is a Hereford bull and the film is about the introduction of the hornless Hereford among the long-horn Texas cattle.
Maureen O'Hara is a widow recently arrived from England to sell a prize bull to Texas cattle breeders. Juliet Mills is cast as her daughter.
James Stewart is a cowhand who is hired to deliver the bull to a ranch.
There is some complication here about diverting the shipment that is never quite clear except that it allows for a couple of fights and a stampede along the way.
STEWART PLAYS the role in his broadest, drawlingest manner. There are moments when he seems to be doing an imitation of someone imitating Jimmy Stewart.
