A Man Alone (1955)

A notorious gunslinger (Ray Milland) is framed for the slaughter of innocent passengers in a stagecoach robbery. Escaping a vigilante lynch mob, he hides out in the home of the town sheriff (Ward Bond), who's seriously ill with yellow fever, and his daughter (Mary Murphy) while figuring out how to expose the town's most powerful citizen (Raymond Burr), who's behind the murders. Directed by actor Milland in his directorial film debut. I had a hard time staying engaged with this western. Despite being innocent, Milland's character isn't particularly likable and as a director, he doesn't give some much needed punch to the flat screenplay and the romantic angle with the younger Mary Murphy (young enough to be his daughter) seems forced. Technically, Lionel Lindon (THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE) does nicely with the Utah and Arizona exteriors shot in Trucolor and there's a fine score by Victor Young (JOHNNY GUITAR). Milland did much better with his next directorial effort, LISBON. With Lee Van Cleef, Alan Hale and Minerva Urecal.