This fine, haunting western was the last of the Randolph Scott-Budd Boetticher collaborations. Its predecessors were SEVEN MEN FROM NOW (1956), THE TALL T. (1957), DECISION AT SUNDOWN (1957), BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE (1958), RIDE LONESOME (1959), and WESTBOUND (1959). Together they encapsulate
themes that made these films some of the most striking, intelligent, and complex westerns ever made. Boetticher, an often-underrated talent, created films that dealt with the sadness of independence, the questing impulse, the overpowering forces of nature, and the past's influence on the present.
Interrupting a futile ten-year search for his own wife, who was kidnaped by Indians, Scott agrees to track down a settler's wife, Gates, who has been raped and captured by Comanches. On their way back to her husband, Scott and Gates are met by outlaw Akins and his two adolescent proteges,
Homeier and Rust, who inform the couple that they are being trailed by Comanche braves. Akins and the boys, offering to accompany Scott and Gates on their journey, create an atmosphere of tension, with Akins frequently commenting on the cowardice of Gates's husband in sending another man to do his
work. It soon becomes apparent that Akins is plotting to get the reward for himself.
As in many of the Renown westerns, Scott is truly a loner in the film, a man whose personal code limits his ability to coexist with others. Adhering to the mythic type of the western hero, Scott remains true to the ideals of honesty, courage, and the responsibility to aid those in need.
Boetticher's films are not happy, optimistic westerns in which evil is defeated before the final credits roll. They are sad films that focus on isolated men and the harsh world they exist in, men who strive for things they will probably never attain.
leave a comment
