More Information on Dawn at Socorro

[Phil C]

I will post this here since we still have a while before Fall. For those that don't know Dawn at Socorro was a western movie made in 1954 that starred Rory Calhoun, Piper Laurie, David Brian, Kathleen Hughes, Alex Nicol (outstanding as Jimmy Rapp a gunfighter with honor), Lee Van Cleef, and Edgar Buchannan (Very good as the Sheriff of Socorro). This is a great movie with an outstanding cast and crew. It is shown regularly on the TCM (Turner Classic Movie) channel. It has great sound and the color is beautiful and the scenery is also beautiful. There are probably very few (Sans may be one) that know as much or more about this movie as I do.

[Phil C]

One thing about movies made at this time was the credits were shown at the first part of the movie and were brief and to the point. Only the main members of the crew were credited unlike today which if you watch a movie till the end you will know anyone connected with it is credited and in fact I have seen the producer's divorce attorney mentioned. In Dawn at Socorro the credit for the music went to Joseph Gershenson who also later was credited for the music in other movies such as Shenandoah with James Stewart and Spartucus with Kirk Douglas. One of the uncredited crew that worked on the music in Dawn at Socorro was Henry Mancini. He became very famous and won many awards. He was credited for the music in such movies as The Pink Panther with Peter Sellers and David Niven, Charade with Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, James Coburn and George Kennedy, and Hatari with John Wayne. He also did musical hit for the TV series which was also a top musical hit called Peter Gunn in 1958.

[Phil C]

One of the supporting actors in Dawn at Socorro was Alex Nicol. Even though he was listed as one of the stars he was really in a supporting role and this was unfortunate because he was great in the role but Oscar rules were a supporting actor could not be listed as a main star which cost him the oscar nomination. His performance in Dawn at Socorro was magnificient as I have said many times before in his role of the villian Jimmy Rapp a gunfighter with honor. I won't go into detail here as I have done before. Unfortunately Hollywood did not fully utilize his talents as they have done for many great actors such as Sterlin Hayden for example and some of the other cast members of this great movie. Alex Nicol was also great in the James Stewart movie The Man From Laramie as the bad son. He also appeared in the great Paul Anka movie as Anka's dad and he is great in it as is Ruth Roman who plays Anka's mom. This movie was very underated at the time and is a great movie. Jack Cassidy was also in it. Nicol appeared in other movies and tv series most notable is his great Twilight Zone performance called Young Man's Fancy. He passed away in 2001 at the age of 85. He was born in 1916 in Ossining, NY.

[Phil C]

Another great actor in Dawn at Socorro was Edgar Buchannan who was very good as the Sheriff of Socorro. Even though he doesn't appear until the movie is half over the wait is worth it. He played character actor parts where he was dim witted but in Dawn at Socorro he provides some one line humor but he also proves to be a very capable and conscienteous sheriff even though the bad guys get the drop on him near the end of the movie through no fault of his though. His first profession was as a dentist and he was a good one since he was the head oral surgeon in Eugene, Oregon. He moved his practice to California where he joined a local actor's playhouse and the rest is history as he soon gave up dentistry and took up acting. He appeared in many movies such as Ride the High Country with Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea. On tv he was in Judge Roy Bean and Cade's Country with Glenn Ford and is probably best known s Uncle Joe in Petticoat Junction. He made many guest appeareances in tv series such as Leave it to Beaver and Andy Griffith.

[Phil C]

Piper Laurie is great in Dawn at Socorro and is the leading lady. It is great to see her in it at age 22 and in color! She appeared in many movies, tv shows, and broadway. Dawn at Socorro was one of her first movies and she was good in it. She was nominated for an oscar three times for The Hustler with Paul Newman in 1962, Carrie in 1976, and The Children of the Lesser God in 1986. She is still acting today at age 72. A nice career. Don't miss Dawn at Socorro especially since as I have said you can see Piper Laurie at 22 (maybe even 21) in color.

[Phil C]

Another good but unfortunately unknown actor in Dawn at Socorro was James Millican. The first part of the movie is obviously loosely based on the famous Gunfight at the Ok Coral and on Wyatt Earp (James Millican as Marshall Harry McNair), Doc Holiday (Rory Calhoun as Bret Wade), Ike Clanton (Stanley Andrews as Tom Ferris) and Johnny Ringo (Alex Nicol as Jimmy Rapp). Of course it is changed with different characters and circumstances in this movie. Millican is only in the first 25 minutes of the movie and his character is based on Wyatt Earp. He is good in the movie and one feels that eventually he would have been a larger part in movies or perhaps a tv series. Unfortunately he passed away a year after the movie was made.

[PhiI C]

I did a little research on Alex Nicol and he was born in Ossining, NY in 1916. The City's population now is about 24,000. It is about 35 miles North of New York City. Until March 2001 it was known as Sing Sing, NY and is located close to the prison Sing
Sing. In fact most of Nicol's life he probably said he was from Sing Sing. In March 2001 the City changed its' name to Ossining to distance itself from the notorious prison. Nicol died a few months after this name change.