6/10
Unusual western with miscast Simmons and McNally...
18 January 2008
John Farrow directed this unusual western about a bounty hunter (STEPHEN McNALLY) and his prisoner (RORY CALHOUN) seeking shelter in a remote cabin owned by JEAN SIMMONS, biding their time until the bad weather passes so that McNally can bring Calhoun to justice for a crime he's committed involving McNally's brother.

Somehow the casting seems adrift. McNally is usually much more at home as a villain and should have played Calhoun's part. And yet, Calhoun and Simmons don't seem like a good match, she being completely out of place in this sort of western and he not convincing enough as the bad man McNally is after.

The storm sequences are well done, the settings are good, and everyone tries hard to keep the melodramatics on a believable level--and most of it works quite well.

BRIAN AHERNE, as Simmons' absent father, only makes an appearance toward the end of the story when his role becomes important in the scheme of things. He too seems oddly out of place in a western.

Despite the flaws, makes an interesting watch.
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