Powerful

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Randolph Scott (Chris) is out to avenge the man responsible for the death of his fiancée. He has a description of the man responsible and so his search begins. That man is George Macready (Miles) who is now living as top dog in the town of Coroner Creek. Scott arrives and plays a tactical game.The problem with the film is the path that Scott pursues to take his revenge. I'm all for a bit of revenge - it can be very satisfying. Why doesn't he just get on with what he came for instead of namby-pambying around with psychological warfare. He gets involved with too many people. Henchman Forrest Tucker (Ernie) gives him a good fight but there is no way Scott would have defeated him with the use of only one arm. Unrealistic nonsense. So, the film loses a point. I also found Macready an unconvincing bad guy - he's too angelic looking.It is filmed in colour which makes a change for 1948 but the process only seems to have brought out oranges and greens. Everything is orange, browny-orange, orangey-brown and green. The film is ok to watch but I was a little disappointed and it includes a far-fetched ending with dodgy shooting that ties everything up conveniently. I'm off to but a new orangey-brown outfit but not sure what colour it will go with. I'll try green.

My grandfather took my dad to the movies whenever a Randolph Scott western was shown, and no doubt they would have certainly enjoyed this one. This is a first-class Randolph Scott film, a western picture based on a Luke Short novel, and a good introduction for anyone interested in Scott's career and western films of the 1940s. Randolph Scott plays a character hell-bent on revenge in Coroner Creek, seeking justice for the death of his fiancé. This solid, riveting picture, has all the elements of a gripping western based on revenge, with the added storyline of the typical power-hungry, manipulating ranch boss. George McCready's performance is compelling, as he plays the cut-throat ranch owner with savagery, hidden behind a civil mask. Forrest Tucker and Randolph Scott have an extremely vicious fight in this film, that is very surprising for a western of the 1940s. Randolph Scott is strong and steady with his performance. Edgar Buchanan, Marguerite Chapman, Sally Eilers all help to round-out this story that has some twists and turns in the plot. A synopsis does not give this intriguing, underrated film adequate justice.

With his square-jawed determination, Scott (Danning) makes a riveting screen presence. So, by golly, he's going to get whoever is responsible for his fiancé's death and nothing's going to stand in his way. Not even the comely Chapman (Kate) or the Big Guy in the Sky. But he's got a tough bunch to deal with, especially blond bruiser Tucker (Ernie), who would rather grind hands than seeds. That fist-fight with Danning may be a stretch, but it's sure imaginative. Then there's that arch baddie Macready (Miles) and veteran sneer merchant Douglas Fowley (Stew). So Danning's got his work cut out for him. You gotta love those red rock Sedona AZ locations. They turn up in so many horse operas of the time. Speaking of turning up and lending color—yes indeed, there he is, old gravel- voiced grouch Edgar Buchanan as the sheriff. No western of the day worth its salt was without his particular brand of character color. And, guys, there's not just the usual one good-looking woman in the movie. There're three, so which one will Scott end up with.Can't help noticing that Harry Joe Brown produced this film along with Scott's later The Tall T (1957). Then too, the plot here is similar to many of the Scott-Buddy Boetticher classics of a decade later. But then, Scott was so good at grim determination, it's hard not to make him a revenge-seeker. Anyway, better than most six-gun directors, Enright knows where to put the camera, helping to make this one of Scott's more memorable westerns that even non-fans may enjoy.

When I saw that British TV was screening an unfamiliar 1948 Randolph Scott Western, I assumed it would be one of his less exciting films in black and white - it's his later efforts that are usually shown. In the event, I was pleasantly surprised; it was shot in good quality colour that showed the outdoor scenery to advantage and the plot was better than in most contemporary Westerns (though not up to that of Red River, released the same year). Several of its features bring to mind later, better known, films.Scott looks thinner than we are accustomed to see him, almost haggard, which suits him in the role of a driven man seeking vengeance for the death (and presumed rape) of his woman; this reminds one of Rancho Notorious and Scott's own Ride Lonesome. He has a very violent fist fight with Forrest Tucker (less weather-beaten than in later films), with the two men viciously stamping on each other's gun hands - a forerunner of James Stewart's fate in The Man from Laramie. And when Marguerite Chapman overcomes her religious scruples to come to the aid of her man, one thinks of Grace Kelly doing the same in High Noon.George Macready makes a sinister villain and Edgar Buchanan is in his familiar role as a half-good, half-bad guy - and he doesn't growl as much as usual.There are some unconvincing touches. When Scott rides into his enemy's town the citizens stare after him in a weak attempt to suggest that they sense that nemesis has arrived; this was better done by Burt Lancaster in Lawman and by Clint Eastwood in many of his films. Yet minutes later this supposedly sinister stranger is entrusted with driving a drunken, attractive woman home. And it's not giving anything away in a Western of this (or almost any) era to say that the villain gets what he deserves, but his precise way of dying is unrealistic.On the other hand we are spared the sight common in Scott's later Westerns of an actor in his fifties (Scott was born in 1898) romancing someone half his age; indeed the love interest throughout is very low key, with the emphasis being on Macready's failed marriage.All in all it's a good, enjoyable film to watch.