It's the town of Sheridan City. The movie opens with bad cowboy Ed Pinchot shooting a boy's dog for no good reason. Clint Tollinger (Robert Mitchum) rides into town looking for his estranged wife Nelly Bain. She runs her saloon girls and refuses to see him. He keeps asking about Beth. The town is under threat from powerful rancher Dade Holman. The sheriff is weak. The town's men hire Tollinger who is a notorious town-tamer.
It's interesting to see a hero turn into the murky middle. Mitchum has played all sides. The movie does miss a good foil for him. This is a mano-a-mano story. Dade Holman is not on-screen enough to be the foil. Pinchot is too small as a character. It needs a bigger opponent for this to achieve real greatness.
It's interesting to see a hero turn into the murky middle. Mitchum has played all sides. The movie does miss a good foil for him. This is a mano-a-mano story. Dade Holman is not on-screen enough to be the foil. Pinchot is too small as a character. It needs a bigger opponent for this to achieve real greatness.