Another collaboration with Burt Kennedy, another revenge story. Randolph Scott is after the seven men who robbed a Wells Fargo stage and caused the death of his wife. Encounters Gail Russell and Walter Reed en route, along with criminal Lee Marvin.
From the moment the husband decides not to do what's been suggested, and goes back into town without the gold, you know his days are numbered. It's his own fault. The fact that he's been carrying the gold all along is a nice twist. And the bad guys going to pick up the gold - it's so obviously a trap. It has its absurdist moments, in other words, like the old guy who's got his mule inside with him. And the moment Russell goes to kiss Scott and he evades her and just gets on his horse is cool.
Bazin loved it, the simplicity of the story and of the approach, the stillness of Scott, the use of horses and the landscape - those interesting rock formations are in Alabama Hills, Lone Pine and other locales in California are shot by William Clothier, in WarnerColor.
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