Ride A Crooked Trail (1958)

When a fleeing bank robber (Audie Murphy) arrives in a new town, he is mistaken for the lawman that was pursuing him by the town's judge (Walter Matthau). When an old flame (Gia Scala, GUNS OF NAVARONE) shows up, Murphy persuades her to pose as his wife until an opportune moment when he can rob the town's bank. But her current boyfriend (Henry Silva) also has plans to rob the bank. This is a wonderful, tight (it runs 88 minutes) little western that manages to infuse the proceedings with a lot of humor (mainly the interplay between Murphy and Scala posing as husband and wife) in addition to the suspenseful situation (will they or will they not be found out?) amidst the usual western familiarities. It's obvious that Matthau, even with the gray powdered into his hair, is too young for the hard drinking judge but that doesn't stop him from overacting shamelessly! Fortunately, it's balanced out by Murphy's underplaying. Harold Lipstein (DAMN YANKEES) handled the CinemaScope lensing. With Joanna Moore, Leo Gordon, Mary Field and Eddie Little as the river rat "adopted" by Scala and Murphy.