The genre of western has its share of loyal fans who couldn't get enough of the great outdoors and often bigger than life story lines that went beyond bandits, land grabbers and fights with the natives. A sub genre of the standard western brought film noir into the mix, and this late B western goes down that path semi-successfully. James Craig is a mystery man who is determined to stay one step ahead of the bounty hunters searching for him, and gets himself hired as "town tamer", that is, given the responsibility to locate the corrupt elements in a town and get rid of them. Often, town tamers were opposed by the town sheriff, but in this case, he is up against a crippled bully (Paul Richards) who simply sends for three hit men to take care of him, even being smug enough to ask Craig to mail the letters on his way out.
Similarities to "High Noon" are obvious, with Craig aware of the problems that face him. But with the people who hired him not willing to help him, he's on his own, even though Richard's beautiful wife (Martha Vickers) is obviously attracted to him. When one of the hit men (Brett Halaey) turns out to be his own brother, Craig will have some quick thinking to do.
Tossing western veteran Edgar Buchanan as as the sheriff, thus has vintage western heritage. Some unique ideas rank this far above the *1/2 stars that Leonard Maltin ranked this at, although I do agree with observations that with TV westerns already dominating the airwaves, this had little chance of being anything than just barely successful. You have to look at this deeply for its film noir aspects which are subtle yet obvious.
Similarities to "High Noon" are obvious, with Craig aware of the problems that face him. But with the people who hired him not willing to help him, he's on his own, even though Richard's beautiful wife (Martha Vickers) is obviously attracted to him. When one of the hit men (Brett Halaey) turns out to be his own brother, Craig will have some quick thinking to do.
Tossing western veteran Edgar Buchanan as as the sheriff, thus has vintage western heritage. Some unique ideas rank this far above the *1/2 stars that Leonard Maltin ranked this at, although I do agree with observations that with TV westerns already dominating the airwaves, this had little chance of being anything than just barely successful. You have to look at this deeply for its film noir aspects which are subtle yet obvious.