The opening scene to this Randolph Scott suggests it is going to be an old fashioned cowboys versus Indians film as we see a group of Apache attacking a stage coach; it turns out that they are working for a white man though and once they force the coach to stop this white man kills the men and takes the one female passenger away with him. After this prologue we meet the films protagonist; Chris Danning. He is trying to find out what happened on the stage and learns a few facts about the man responsible; he is blond, blue eyed, has a scar on his face and can speak fluent Apache... he also learns that the woman later killed herself.
At this point we don't know his connection to the woman but it is clear that she meant a lot to him as he sets off to find the man responsible. He tracks him down to the town of Coroner Creek; here he learns the man's name is Younger Miles and he is the dominant rancher in the area; doing what it takes to force rivals off their land and getting away with it because his father in law is the sheriff. Danning doesn't go gunning for Miles; instead he starts to provoke him; getting a job with Miles last rival and letting the whole town that he helped Miles' drunk wife get home. It doesn't all go Danning's way though a fight with Miles' gang leaves him with a badly broken hand and several hundred of his employer's cattle are killed when Miles' men set fire the undergrowth in the canyon they were grazing in. This doesn't stop Danning of course and ultimately he will have his revenge and we will learn why he was determined to see Miles dead.
I found this to be a surprisingly gritty western; the fight between Scott and Forrest Tucker was particularly brutal for a film of this era; with the latter stamping on Scott's hand then when the tables are turned Scott does the same to him; showing that our hero is only out for revenge. An even bigger surprise came earlier in the scene when Scott bit Tucker's arm; I don't recall seeing any western hero fight that dirty before! Scott puts in a fine performance as Danning; he may have been fifty when he filmed this but he was believable as a man who could handle himself in a dangerous situation. George Macready, played Younger Miles, was suitably villainous; we even see him slapping his wife hitting a man across the face with a spur just to prove how bad he is! Director Ray Enright keeps the action moving along well enough and for the most part makes the fights look good... one early fight did include a very obviously sped up section though which didn't work for me.
If you enjoy B westerns this is definitely worth checking out if it is on TV and is a must if you have enjoyed other Randolph Scott westerns.
At this point we don't know his connection to the woman but it is clear that she meant a lot to him as he sets off to find the man responsible. He tracks him down to the town of Coroner Creek; here he learns the man's name is Younger Miles and he is the dominant rancher in the area; doing what it takes to force rivals off their land and getting away with it because his father in law is the sheriff. Danning doesn't go gunning for Miles; instead he starts to provoke him; getting a job with Miles last rival and letting the whole town that he helped Miles' drunk wife get home. It doesn't all go Danning's way though a fight with Miles' gang leaves him with a badly broken hand and several hundred of his employer's cattle are killed when Miles' men set fire the undergrowth in the canyon they were grazing in. This doesn't stop Danning of course and ultimately he will have his revenge and we will learn why he was determined to see Miles dead.
I found this to be a surprisingly gritty western; the fight between Scott and Forrest Tucker was particularly brutal for a film of this era; with the latter stamping on Scott's hand then when the tables are turned Scott does the same to him; showing that our hero is only out for revenge. An even bigger surprise came earlier in the scene when Scott bit Tucker's arm; I don't recall seeing any western hero fight that dirty before! Scott puts in a fine performance as Danning; he may have been fifty when he filmed this but he was believable as a man who could handle himself in a dangerous situation. George Macready, played Younger Miles, was suitably villainous; we even see him slapping his wife hitting a man across the face with a spur just to prove how bad he is! Director Ray Enright keeps the action moving along well enough and for the most part makes the fights look good... one early fight did include a very obviously sped up section though which didn't work for me.
If you enjoy B westerns this is definitely worth checking out if it is on TV and is a must if you have enjoyed other Randolph Scott westerns.