Easily the weakest of the seven westerns Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott made together. It’s not just that Scott’s Buchanan is probably the least interesting character in the film but that he’s … well, dumb. The audience is always one step ahead of him and we can see the consequences of his mistakes even before he does. Scott’s Buchanan is a rather innocuous cowpoke who wanders into a nasty little town called Agry (is it just me or is it fitting that Agry is angry without the “n”?). When he attempts to help a Mexican (Manuel Rojas) being beaten up, he’s unceremoniously thrown into the clinker along with the Mexican. Three of the supporting characters are far more involving. Two nefarious brothers, one (Tol Avery) a judge, the other (Barry Kelley) a sheriff who clash over money and power and Avery’s henchman (Craig Stevens), who seems to have a sense of fairness despite his involvement with the corrupt Avery.
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