LeonLouisRicci It is a Plot Heavy Movie with a Goodly Amount of Heavies, Literally. All the lead Bad Guys are Seriously Overweight except Craig Stevens as a well Groomed Gun for Hire.Randolph Scott is in on the Light Touch of the Film from the Get-Go as He Smiles Broadly, almost Retardedly, but that could be a Ploy. He seems perfectly Able to Figure Things Out and is Ready with a Funny Quip. After finding a Room is $10, a Steak is $10 and a Bottle of Whisky is $10...Looking straight at an Attractive Floozy in the Saloon says, "Is there anything in this town that doesn't cost $10?" There's more but You need to Watch this Amusing, Above Average Movie to experience the Fun.L.Q. Jones is a Standout as Scott's West Texas Buddy. There is a Burial Scene that's a Hoot. Newbies seeking out the Boetticher/Scott Cannon might want to Save this one for Last, so They can Wrap it Up with a Wink and a Nod to One of the Best Collaborations Found in Fifties Westerns. Note...Along with the Anthony Mann/James Stewart Films these were as Good as the Genre had to Offer in the Overdose of Oaters from the Decade.

classicsoncall Whoever cast Barry Kelley (Lew Agry), Tol Avery (Judge Simon Agry), and Peter Whitney (Amos Agry) as brothers did a pretty good job - they all look like they could have been brothers! Whitney's character might possibly have been used for more comedic affect though, he looked a bit like Andy Devine but without the humor I was expecting. In their own way, each of these guys was a despicable character.The one player though that seemed completely inappropriate to the story was Craig Stevens as the Judge's personal aide Abe Carbo. He looked like he should have had Randolph Scott's role as the hero of the piece. At sixty years old, Scott looked somewhat worn for the lead role and actor Stevens seemed to outclass him in both looks and demeanor. One thing's for sure, Scott's character Buchanan is about the luckiest gunslinger to appear in a Western. I lost count how many times the bad guys got the drop on him before the final showdown.If you hang on through the inconsistencies, this is an OK Western but that's about as far as it goes. The burial of henchman Lafe (Don C. Harvey) in a tree was a pretty interesting element and Juan de la Vega's horse (Manuel Rojas) struck me as a dynamic looking animal. If he had the same agent as Trigger and Champion he might have had a longer film career.

Michael O'Keefe Randolph Scott and director Budd Boetticher team up again with this average cowboy flick about loyalty and betrayal. Loner Tom Buchanan, on his way home to west Texas, stops along the California/Mexican border and is jailed falsely accused of being the parter of a young Mexican trying to avenge the rape of his sister. Buchanan is released, but led out of town minus his money belt containing $5,000. He escapes being shot in the back and returns to town to collect his stolen money. In doing so, he must start some mistrust and anger between three corrupt brothers who run the town. Buchanan ends up in the manipulation of a double-cross to keep the Mexican youth from hanging. An obvious low-budget western, but still interesting. Also in the cast of players: Craig Stevens, Manuel Rojas, Barry Kelley, Peter Whitney, L.Q. Jones, Tol Avery and Jennifer Holden.Of note: Miss Holden only appeared in three movies; the first being her better role in the Elvis Presley classic JAILHOUSE ROCK(1957).

Romanus Nies This is a western so far from reality as Moscow is from Phoenix, Arizona, although it is no comedy. Or is it? And that is why I write a comment of protest. Time and again the hero, which is certainly also an anti-hero, is sweeping through the landscape, never really knowing what to do, which is really funny to a certain degree. But it is as well totally unrealistic. Who wrote that screen-play and in what mental condition? All the figures in the story behave totally mad. I wonder whether the horses should have been more intelligent!I give an example. Randy, Pecos and the Mexican overwhelm the three little helpers of the sheriff who came to either kill or arrest them for a later hanging in a hut outside town. And what are these three guys doing? They take three lassos and bind them. Then Randy wants to go back to town to get his money which the sheriff had stolen,and the the other two ride to the Mexicans home. So far so good. Now starts the nonsense: no funny, just ridiculous: 1. the three villains get free from the three tons of binding material within approximately 10 seconds. Is this the way cowboys bind cows? They should know how to bind knots!2. next likability: You won't believe it, Randy and his two buddies let the horses of the villains parked right outside the hut! Why? Of course to make the persecution possible in case the villains get free! How foolish those poor fellows are! But it comes even better: 3.because being hunted without a shotgun aiming at one's a.. is no fun, nobody of our 3 (THREE!) cow-men thought of taking the guns of the villains along with them! 4. The Mexican and Pecos had just now a narrow escape! The Mexican waited for his hanging. He was set free but knows that the sheriff and the whole town is after him. So what will he do? He will ride home! Yes, but very, very slowly! I have never seen a western movie where two men rode so slowly across the wild wild west. It is clear what happened. The three villains got rid of the silky spiderweb, took thankfully their horses and their guns, caught within a minute the clever Mexican who had wasted so much time and shot clever Pecos who had wasted so much life. And of course Buchanan was caught too. I could give You more examples. The film is a total continuation of question marks and doubtful looks. I assume, this is not the way to make people in the American West believe that they stem from intelligent or capable forefathers (which they certainly do). Western movies are seldom very realistic, true, but too much exaggeration of (possible?) actions that make sense is too much I can bear. I found this movie in parts ridiculous. I wonder how anybody could decide to make it! I need hardly a day to write a better screenplay.