Three Violent People (1956)

In post Civil War Texas, a returning Confederate veteran (Charlton Heston) on his way home to the family ranch encounters a woman (Anne Baxter) and impulsively marries her. What he doesn't know is her shady past working as a bar girl in saloons and she has no intention of telling him. But how long before her secret comes out? Directed by the veteran cinematographer turned director Rudolph Mate (GILDA), this is a solid western. It's more concerned with the dramatic aspects and characterization than it is with the minimal (for a western) action. Heston is fine but he'd already done this part 2 years before in THE NAKED JUNGLE and here Baxter substitutes for Eleanor Parker. As the bitter one armed brother, Tom Tryon suggests that he may have been underestimated as an actor. The cinematographer Lloyd Griggs (SHANE) uses the Arizona locations nicely and Edith Head whipped up some colorful threads for Baxter. With Gilbert Roland, Elaine Stritch, Forrest Tucker, Robert Blake, Bruce Bennett and Barton MacLane.