A Civil War guerilla gang plans an attack on a Kansas arsenal. Confederate Captain Alan Westcott, posing as a horse supplier for the army, is ordered to infiltrate the Union lines and contact William Quantrill to arrange a raid on the arsenal at Lawrence, Kansas. Westcott meets and falls in love with Sue Walters. Westcott's activities and associations begin to cause the Union vigilante committee to become suspicious of him, and he moves quickly in utilizing the Quantrill raiders. After laying their plans to attack Lawrence, Westcott learns that the arsenal is being moved out by wagon trail. He calls off the attack on Lawrence in favor of attacking the wagon train, but Quantrill pulls a treacherous double-cross and rides into Lawrence on a personal mission of bloodshed, murder and looting. Edward Bernds is best known for helming Three Stooges' movies, such as "Gold Raiders," "The Three Stooges Meet Hercules," and "The Three Stooges in Orbit." Mind you, Bernds dabbled in other genres, such as science fiction with "The Queen of Outer Space" and "Space Master X-7." He also made his share of westerns, including "The Storm Rider," "Escape from Red Rock," as well as episodes from "Colt .45" and "Sugarfoot." "Quantrill's Raiders" appears to be his only historical oater, and loosely based on the exploits of the partisan Confederate guerrilla raider stretches the bounds of reality considerably. Of course, it is no surprise that Hollywood would embroider history, and "Quantrill's Raiders" is no exception. This concise Civil War western depicts the events leading up to and including the infamous raid on Lawrence, Kansas. In this version of the events, Quantrill commands an outfit that numbers less than 30 riders, and his men and he are wiped out when they attack Lawrence due to the foresight of an undercover Confederate captain under General Sterling Price who demands that Quantrill confined his depredations to military objects. Captain Alan 'Wes' Westcott (Steve Cochran of "White Heat") is a Confederate spy masquerading as a former Union soldier, Michael Davis, who plans to see horses to the commandant when he rides into Lawrence under an assumed identity. Westcott's masquerade initially succeeds in part because he tags along with a Union patrol that encounters an ambush set up by Quantrill. He saves the commander of the patrol and cuts a dashing figure until fire with his twin six-guns. Of course, virtually all of the small arms in this movie are anachronistic. The casting of veteran tough guy Leo V. Gordon as the notorious guerrilla renegade is probably the best thing about "Quantrill's Raiders," which boils down basically to being little more than a conventional horse opera taking place in the Civil War. <br/><br/>"The Raiders" scenarist Polly James sanitizes history significantly by allowing Union authorities to dispatch Quantrill at Lawrence in 1863. He died a couple of years after the raid. Moreover, his trigger-happy raiders don't put the town to the torch and slay hundreds as they did in real life. The Lawrence raid went down in history as one of the most lethal incursions during the border combat in the Civil War. Our dubious hero clashes with Quantrill because the eponymous villain wants to loot the town like a terrorist rather than carry out military initiatives. At one point, Westcott trifles with Quantrill's own woman, but she meets her death trying to help him. Meantime, our hero has another filly in his stable, Sue Walters (Diane Brewster of "Black Patch"), who it turns out was once involved with Quantrill. She runs the boarding house where Westcott hangs his hat. History buff so American Civil War films may dismiss this 72-minute shenanigan, while western fans may find it tolerable. The production values for this Allied Artist release are above-average, and you'll spot several familiar faces, such as Will Wright, Myron Healy, Glenn Strange, and Lane Chandler. The John Wayne western "Dark Command," the Clint Eastwood oater "The Outlaw Josey Wales," and Ang Lee's "Ride with the Devil" starring Tobey Maguire are better films about this turbulent time. Probably the most incredible thing about this routine undercover operation oater is that the Union commander doesn't have our hero shot as a spy, presumably because he warned the citizens of Lawrence about Quantrill's impending raid. It doesn't help matters that Westcott behaves in a dastardly fashion when he engineers his escape from the Lawrence jail by holding a knife to the throat of a young stable boy with whom he is friends. Guess you can get away with anything in Hollywood. This brisk Cinemascope Civil War tale is a no nonsense movie that runs around 70 minutes and makes good use of its time.It tells of the raid on Lawrence,Kansas by Quantrill and his men during the war.Steve Cochran is top billed as a Confederate officer assigned to Quantrill to assist in the planning and execution of the raid .The town contains a Union ammunition dump and is thus a legitimate target .However when the ammunition is moved Quantrill -whose interest in the war lies not in the Southern cause but an opportunity to settle old scores -insists on pressing ahead with the raid anyway thus forcing Cochran to change his loyalties.<br/><br/>The movie rewrites history in a cavalier fashion - the fate of Quantrill in real life is not the one shown here-but there is much to enjoy if you are not over punctilious about such matters.Cochran is adequate as the hero but Leo Gordon ,who specialised in psychotic villains ,dominates the movie with a full blooded performance .The colour is good and the music score rousing .The action is plentiful and well staged .The script is clichéd and well worn and this is the movie,s chief liability All in all it is a good B-Movie from its era but it does raise one issue for me however-alone of all the key figures of the West and the Civil War,Quantrill has not received a "revisionist" movie about him .the movies have shown ,say Billy the Kid ,or Bill Cody in a number of contrasting lights,from hostile to sympathetic .Quantrill has been demonised in every single movie where he appears .Does nobody actually have to a good word to say about the guy? Good movie and a decent way of passing an hour or so
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