TheLittleSongbird While the western genre is not my favourite one of all film genres (not sure which one is my favourite due to trying to appreciate them all the same), there is a lot of appreciation for it by me. There are a lot of very good to great films, with the best work of John Ford being notable examples.In the late 50s, starting in 1956 with 'Seven Men from Now' and right up to 1960 with 'Comanche Station', lead actor Randolph Scott collaborated with director Budd Boetticher in seven films. For me, along with 'Seven Men from Now', 'The Tall T' is one of their best and more than lives up to its appetising alliterative tagline. It stands tall and is a very great example of how to do a western, comparing favourably with other films in the genre. On its own merits too, as a film overall, 'The Tall T' is a wonderful film.Complaints are next to none, though for my liking the ending was a little on the abrupt side. However, 'The Tall T' is superbly filmed and makes the most of, to full advantage in fact, the vividly desolate scenery/landscapes. The music is another example of being rousing but never intrusive. Boetticher's direction is throughout efficient, great sense of style, vivid atmosphere, fine direction of the action and very successful in keeping everything going.The meaty, snappy and fat-free script helps hugely as does the continually lively pace that makes the storytelling continually compelling and taut, with lots of fun and suspense. 'The Tall T' is one of the best Scott/Boetticher outings in terms of characterisation, in particular having villains that are fun, ruthless and oddly human rather than resorting to stereotypes.Scott's charismatic, easy-going yet tense performance was one of his best in an interesting flawed hero role and the supporting cast are more than up to his level. Particularly formidable Richard Boone and slimy yet entertaining Henry Silva. Maureen O'Sullivan is a fetching female lead with chemistry that is sensual and touching, while Skip Homeier and John Hubbard are suitably nasty.All in all, excellent film and one of Scott/Boetticher's best. 9/10 Bethany Cox

bsmith5552 "The Tall T" is the second of seven Randolph Scott/Budd Boetticher collaborations. Like the others, this too is a terrific low budget "B" plus little western. It is enhanced by the casting of Richard Boone as the chief heavy.Pat Brennan (Scott) like many of Boetticher's heroes, is a loner. He lives alone on a small ranch tucked away in the countryside. On his way to buy a bull from ex-employer Tenvoorde (Robert Burton), he stops by a relay station to water his horse. He has a Neighborly chat with station agent Hank Parker (Fred Sherman) and his young son Jeff (Christopher Olsen). Later in town Brennan meets up with stage driver Ed Rintoon (Arthur Hunnicutt) who tells him that he has been hired to drive newlyweds Willard (John Hubbard) and Doretta Mims (Maureen O'Sullivan) to their honeymoon spot.Later at Tenvoorde's ranch, Brennan loses his horse in a bet with his former boss. He is then forced to walk to the main road to await Rintoon's stage in order to hitch a ride. The coach stops at the relay station and outlaws Frank Usher (Boone) and his two gunsels, Chink (Henry Silva) and Billy Jack (Skip Homier) emerge from the shadows. When Rintoon tries to resist, he is shot down by the trigger happy Chink. Brennan also learns of the fate of the station master and his son.Mims, who is a spineless whiner, tells Usher that Doretta is the daughter of the town rich man (whom we never see) and that he will pay a handsome ransom for her safe return. Mims "volunteers" to ride into town, with Billy Jack, to negotiate the ransom. Meanwhile, Brennan and Mrs. Mims remain behind as the gang's hostages where an attraction between the two develops.When Mims and Billy Jack return, Usher having no respect for the man, lets him go only to have Chink gun him down. Usher decides that he will go to town to pick up the ransom. Brennan convinces Chink and Billy Jack that Usher will make off with the loot. When Chink goes off in pursuit of Usher, Brennan sees his chance to escape and......................................Richard Boone plays another of Boetticher's sympathetic villains. His and Scott's character develop a sort of mutual respect for each other. Boone is clearly the leader leaving the dirty work to his henchmen. In fact, Boone reminds Scott that he spared Scott the same fate as the station master and his son. It's the "some things a man can't ride around" scenario that forces the final showdown. The gruesome demise of the station agent and his son happens off screen as is the that of one of the gunmen.Another little western classic.

Bill Slocum The great thing about "The Tall T" is that, unless you are one of those people who reads up on a movie before seeing it, you have no idea where it is going for the first 20 or so minutes. As you shouldn't; it spoils some of this film's brilliance otherwise.We meet Brennan (Randolph Scott) in the middle of his day; passing the time with the manager of a stage post and his son, riding into the town of Contention, going to a ranch to try and buy a seed bull off its owner. All this time, director Budd Boetticher and scriptwriter Burt Kennedy are setting you up for the real story, which begins when Brennan comes back to the stage post to discover something wrong…And if you haven't seen this movie, stop right there and watch it before continuing. You'll thank me later.You can find a lot of opinions here and elsewhere as to whether "The Tall T" is Boetticher's best movie in his Ranown cycle of westerns featuring Scott. I don't think it's my favorite, but it may well be the most challenging and rewarding of them, just for the way it unfolds so meticulously from amiable oater to become so dark and tense. At bottom, it's a Hemingway-esque reflection on a life of solitary action as seen through the very different perspectives of two men, Brennan and Usher (Richard Boone), both of whom seek to use the same woman, a Mrs. Mims (Maureen O'Sullivan), to opposing ends.A question keeps coming up in these reviews: Why does Usher keep Brennan alive? It's an important question, one the whole movie hinges upon. Watching their first meeting again, the moment becomes pretty clear. Brennan's stoic bravery impresses Usher, whom we learn later hasn't been around a lot of decent people in a while and kind of misses that. There's an early exchange, where Mr. Mims tries to talk his way out of trouble with Usher, saying he won't breathe a word about any lawbreaking. Usher asks Brennan if that goes for him, too."If I said yes, you wouldn't believe me," answers Brennan.Usher grins, more than a little: "Yeah, it's dumb even talking' 'bout it, ain't it?" You can see he's impressed by Brennan, and more so a bit later on when Brennan owns up to being scared about his situation.This is a fantastic acting forum for both Scott and Boone, actors who benefited most when saying less. Brennan is the classic man of few words, even early on when "The Tall T" is putting on its falsely amiable front. Later, making conversation with his fellow captive and their captors, Brennan is even more terse: "It hadn't been my day." Or this three-word verdict on one character that says it all: "He ain't much." My favorite, when addressing one bad guy played by Henry Silva who brags he just killed his seventh victim: "When you figure on eight and nine?"Usher is cruel, but more from habit than bent. He responds to Brennan's tough honor with palpable respect, and even shows kindness to Mrs. Mims. But he's a cruel man, still.The movie isn't without flaws. The music is overbearing and the ending too perfunctory. But the visual design and cinematography by Charles Lawton, Jr. are splendid, suggesting a bullfighting arena as Jeanine Basinger points out in her excellent, cant-free DVD commentary. O'Sullivan and Silva along with Skip Homeier as Usher's other henchman all give excellent support, making this a film that with its actors, as with its dialogue, does more with less.

jpdoherty Columbia Picture's THE TALL T is one of the great westerns of the fifties! It is also one of the best westerns Randolph Scott would appear in under the banner of "Ranown" his jointly owned production company which he headed with his partner Harry Joe Brown. Not only that but it is arguably the best of Scott's westerns to be directed by his favourite director and friend Budd Boetticher. Beautifully photographed in Technicolor by the great Charles Lawton Jr. it boasts a superb screenplay by Burt Kennedy which derived from a story by Elmore Leonard. This, together with Boetticher's masterful direction and the cast's adroit performances turned it into a taut and suspenseful drama located in a remote and engaging western setting.Scott is Pat Brennan making his way home to his ranch when the stagecoach he is on is held up by three desperate killers. A newly married woman on the coach (Maureen O'Sullivan) is taken hostage and held for a ransom from her affluent father. Her squeamish and cowardly new husband (John Hubbard) is killed along with the stage driver and Brennan and the woman are held until the ransom is paid and delivered. Eventually the opportunity comes about where Brennan sees the chance to thwart the gang's intentions and take them on in what is a well executed and action packed finale.The cast couldn't be better! Scott, of course, is his usual granite-faced self. With that terrific voice, easy going manner and a way at delivering a line with a wry smile that is altogether appealing. Richard Boone who always excelled as a baddie doesn't disappoint here. As Frank Usher the leader of the errant trio he is unsmiling, cool and calculating. He must have kept his part here in mind when ten years later he would play a similar type role in Paul Newman's "Hombre" as the gang leader with the cracker of a name... Cicero Grimes. Playing his partners in crime here are Skip Homeier as Billy Jack the childish, naive and gullible gunman and the brilliant Henry Silva as Chink the hardened killer with a creepy effeminate demeanor ("hey Frank I've never killed myself a woman yet - have I?"). Usher has little time for them both and even less respect as he confides in Brennan "I don't like them - the way they are, always talking the same words about women, drinkin' and such". Accusingly Brennan retorts "You run with them!". As the only female in the picture Maureen O'Sullivan gives a fine performance as the unattractive and somewhat drab hostage and Arthur Hunnicutt is splendid as Rintoon the ill-fated stage driver. Underlining this thriller of a western is the fine atmospheric score by Heinz Roemheld. Born 1n 1901 Roemheld had a voluminous output that would almost put Max Steiner to shame. During his lengthy career he either composed, conducted or arranged the music for almost 300 films. It is a wonder he was not better known. But he is remembered for his fine score in 1952 for the Kirk Douglas Warner picture "The Big Trees". Randolph Scott seemed to like his work as he had him score all of his Boetticher/Columbia films of which "Commanche Station" (1960) stands out. Heinz Roemheld died in 1985.THE TALL T is a fondly remembered western and new generations have discovered it. It had a great star in Randolph Scott who remains an enduring icon of the Hollywood western alongside Gary Cooper, Joel McCrea, James Stewart and of course John Wayne.