Man From Del Rio (1956)

A gunfighter (Anthony Quinn) rides into a new town and kills a notorious gunman (Barry Atwater). The town then votes to hire him as their new sheriff with the hopes he will get rid of the town's saloon owner (Peter Whitney), who has a destructive influence on the peaceful town. Directed by Harry Horner (VICKI), this interesting B western is more of a character study than a routine western allowing Quinn to give a strong performance as a man hoping to gain respectability, only to find out the townspeople want him to keep their town free of the bad element but refuse to accept him socially as one of them. Horner manages to build some tension as it slowly moves toward its ambiguous finale. It's a solid effort with some nice B&W cinematography by Stanley Cortez (MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS) and an effective underscore by Fred Steiner. With Katy Jurado, Douglas Fowley, John Larch and an almost unrecognizable Whit Bissell as the town drunk in what might be his best screen performance.