The Paramount Perlberg-Seaton production THE TIN STAR (1957) is an unfairly underrated and for the most part forgotten fifties western. By no manner of means an action packed sublime example of the genre it nevertheless deserves reappraisal for it is a splendid character driven drama set in the west. The Acadamy Award nominated screenplay by Dudley Nichols just crackles with sparkling dialogue and situations. Beautifully photographed in glorious black & white Vista Vision by the great Loyal Griggs (the only Oscar winner from "Shane") it was directed with considerable flair and panache by Anthony Mann. It is curious that here Mann was making a western without the services of his friend and favoured western hero Jimmy Stewart. This time Henry Fonda - Stewart's own best friend was given the lead. Fonda is just perfect in an inspired bit of casting! Always a solid performer Fonda was one of the great stars of Hollywood during the forties, fifties and sixties. Perhaps never gaining the glamorous status of Gable, Cooper or Flynn he nevertheless always displayed winning character portrayals and was never known to give a bad performance. His laid back softly spoken reserved style with that twinkle in the eyes is ever appealing.
In THE TIN STAR he plays Morg Hickman a bounty hunter who, at one time, was a sheriff. He arrives in a town to collect a bounty on a dead outlaw and comes in contact with a young inexperienced deputy Ben Owens (Anthony Perkins). Since bounty hunters are unwelcome in the town Hickman is shunned and asked to leave at first but when he helps out the deputy in a shootout with the town bully Bogardus (Neville Brand) Owens inveigles him to stay and coach him in the finer points of going up against law breakers. He finds lodgings with an attractive widow Nona Mayfield (Betsy Palmer) and her young son Kip (Michael Ray) and after a while strong feelings develop between them (Looking admiringly at her in one scene he quips "Kip is a lucky boy"). A fine set piece ends the picture with the capture of two brothers who have killed the popular town doctor (John McIntire). With the killers behind bars the bad element of the town - led by Bogardus - attempt to storm the jail to lynch them but armed with a shotgun ("a shotgun speaks louder to a mob" advises Hickman) the now well trained deputy faces up to the errant crowd and kills Bogardus. The final scene sees Hickman leaving town in a buckboard to start a new life elsewhere but he is not alone - by his side is Nona and her son.
Supplying the music and adding greatly to the atmosphere of this most pleasing western drama is Elmer Bernstein. THE TIN STAR was one of the composer's early western scores. There is an exciting main theme first heard in its broadest form under the titles. Then there's a playful cue for the antics of the young boy and tender music underscores the film's softer moments. Of course with THE TIN STAR Bernstein was only three years away from what would be his greatest success in a western with his rattling score for "The Magnificent Seven" (1960). His memorable Coplandesque Americana approach would not only thereafter set the standard but would also set the tone for future American western film scores.
In THE TIN STAR he plays Morg Hickman a bounty hunter who, at one time, was a sheriff. He arrives in a town to collect a bounty on a dead outlaw and comes in contact with a young inexperienced deputy Ben Owens (Anthony Perkins). Since bounty hunters are unwelcome in the town Hickman is shunned and asked to leave at first but when he helps out the deputy in a shootout with the town bully Bogardus (Neville Brand) Owens inveigles him to stay and coach him in the finer points of going up against law breakers. He finds lodgings with an attractive widow Nona Mayfield (Betsy Palmer) and her young son Kip (Michael Ray) and after a while strong feelings develop between them (Looking admiringly at her in one scene he quips "Kip is a lucky boy"). A fine set piece ends the picture with the capture of two brothers who have killed the popular town doctor (John McIntire). With the killers behind bars the bad element of the town - led by Bogardus - attempt to storm the jail to lynch them but armed with a shotgun ("a shotgun speaks louder to a mob" advises Hickman) the now well trained deputy faces up to the errant crowd and kills Bogardus. The final scene sees Hickman leaving town in a buckboard to start a new life elsewhere but he is not alone - by his side is Nona and her son.
Supplying the music and adding greatly to the atmosphere of this most pleasing western drama is Elmer Bernstein. THE TIN STAR was one of the composer's early western scores. There is an exciting main theme first heard in its broadest form under the titles. Then there's a playful cue for the antics of the young boy and tender music underscores the film's softer moments. Of course with THE TIN STAR Bernstein was only three years away from what would be his greatest success in a western with his rattling score for "The Magnificent Seven" (1960). His memorable Coplandesque Americana approach would not only thereafter set the standard but would also set the tone for future American western film scores.