Sometimes it sucks to be a cowboy hero. In this film, Randolph Scott can't catch any breaks in the first few minutes of the film. First, when the evil baddie Zachary Scott escapes after killing the sheriff, the townspeople lock up Randolph--even though he did nothing and Zachary stole his prize revolvers. Second, after he finally is released because there is no evidence against him, Randolph jumps into the middle of a stage robbery and saves the day...only to have the lady on board steal his horse! Like I said, sometimes it sucks to be the cowboy hero! The rest of the film consists of Randolph trying to track down the gang and make them pay. The only problem is that practically everyone is too stupid to realize who is the real gang leader, so often it's up to our hero to do much of the hero-stuff alone or with the help of his Indian friends.
The movie suffers from one too many cases of "he appears to be _________ but is actually __________". This happens four different times--a town sheriff who appears interested in law and order who is actually a member of the gang, a lady who appears to be working for the gang but is only interested in saving her husband, the husband who appears to be prisoner of the gang but is actually a willing member of the gang and Randolph who is accused of being with the gang but is actually a hero. This is just way too contrived and happens too often--making the film seem very sloppy. While you can always count on a Randolph Scott film to be entertaining and reasonably well made, this one is clearly one of his lesser films due to the improbable writing and predictability. It seems like I've seen the final scene with Zachary Scott leaving the jail about 157 times in the past!!!
For fans of Randolph Scott, it's worth seeing. For others, it's really just another time-passer.
The movie suffers from one too many cases of "he appears to be _________ but is actually __________". This happens four different times--a town sheriff who appears interested in law and order who is actually a member of the gang, a lady who appears to be working for the gang but is only interested in saving her husband, the husband who appears to be prisoner of the gang but is actually a willing member of the gang and Randolph who is accused of being with the gang but is actually a hero. This is just way too contrived and happens too often--making the film seem very sloppy. While you can always count on a Randolph Scott film to be entertaining and reasonably well made, this one is clearly one of his lesser films due to the improbable writing and predictability. It seems like I've seen the final scene with Zachary Scott leaving the jail about 157 times in the past!!!
For fans of Randolph Scott, it's worth seeing. For others, it's really just another time-passer.