Paul P. Powell — 3 months ago(December 26, 2025 06:52 AM)

Most casual fans of westerns have probably never seen, much less admire this early Ford western.
It's a strange film, I must say. I myself, enjoyed it. But then, I'm a big fan of Ben Johnson. He was a real cowboy.
At the same time, I can easily see how this flick provided story ideas for maybe +20 episodes of "Gunsmoke" and other 1950s serials.
It's competent, and well-executed, but laden with almost every known western trope.
The chief pleasure is the wunnerful cast of supporting characters. What a motley assemblage. Most of Ford's stock company is on hand.
They're so quirky that they threaten –at times –to overwhelm the 'stolid' acting talents of the principle players themselves.
~ Ben Johnson –whom I always admire no matter what – has as much screen presence as ever, but he is rather leaden with his line delivery.
~ Ward Bond –predictably –chews scenery.
~ Harry Carey Jr –shows himself to be a wonderful square-dancer but otherwise kinda annoying here. He plays "the reckless hothead", as he often does.
All in all, it's somewhat flat, compressed, 'boilerplate' John Ford grab-bag of trail schtick, which he milks for the next twenty years of his career.
The writing and editing manages to pack an ungainly story into a variety of effective, tiny, human-scale scenes.
The most psychologically-realistic character is –surprisingly –Joanna Dru. She is the only one not hamming/mugging.
Paul P. Powell, Pool Player