Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

The acting in this movie is really good.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A good Western-Thriller by the great director John Sturges, with a courageous message, especially at the time of the film: the silence and conformism of the people, in a skillful and subtle criticism to the times of "McCarthyism" that lived at the time of the film. There are quite a few similarities to "High Noon", made three years earlier. Spencer Tracy has an excellent performance (nominated for Oscar) as well as the remaining actors in the cast (Robert Ryan, Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, among others). The only weakness is some movie sequences that are quite unlikely. Still, a movie that delivers great entertainment and a beautiful message.

I saw this for the first time in the early 90s on a laserdisc. Revisited it few days back on a blu-ray. This is not your typical western. An old stranger whose arm is always hidden in his black coat arrives in a desolated town not on a horse but by a train which has stopped for the first time in four years at Black Rock. He is been looked suspiciously by everyone. When he starts inquiring about an American Japanese farmer, he is antagonised by everyone. The opening sequence of the train running is beautifully captured, the suspense n tension maintained very well. If u see this film for the first time, u will b wondering who this stranger is n why is he searching for the Japanese. The best part about this film is the acting by Tracy. This guy was so natural. The film has good star cast, tense storyline, wonderul script and direction. John Sturges did a mighty good job. We have Marvin, Robert Ryan, Walter Brennan and Ernest Borgnine. Tracy's one arm fight with Borgnine was terrific showcasing that u cant mess with an old stranger whose arm is hidden. Also, the concept of an entire town hiding a secret was something very new. The film has a very strong social message dealing with racial prejudice.

Interesting story and it lands well when you see it for the first time. People in a town that you just arrived in do not like you and this is in the first five minutes of arriving. Furthermore, it makes no sense especially to the guy it is being acted out on but he handles it well. It stays consistent throughout the movie until the viewer is dying to know just what is going on and why. Add some fine actors and you got yourself a movie to be watched until the very end. Tracy holds his own playing a man who has no fear but should especially since he has only one arm. Boy does that slowly creep up on you and then explode into some fine, memorable action not to be missed. The rest of the cast supports as well as plays out their roles to perfection. This movie reminds me of when someone tries to commit a crime and thinks they have it all covered only to find out what has been proved over and over again i.e. you cant' cover all the bases. Very nicely portrayed here and the movie gives us good closure too. I like eating when watching a movie. I had bowl of miscellaneous fruits with some homemade double roasted filberts and almonds. Mmm good! Add a tasty drink and do not be bothered for a couple of hours. Enjoy this

One year after she appeared in this modern western, Anne Francis starred in the iconic science fiction film, "Forbidden Planet". The town that serves as the setting for this film is so isolated that it could be on some similar, distant planet. I have been to actual towns in Montana and Wyoming with even fewer than 15 residents, but there always was the presence of at least some kind of activity, business, or industry in these towns. Even if the road through one of these towns wasn't paved, there was always an occasional visitor passing through, including myself. In Black Rock, on the other hand, no one person or business seems to be there for any particular reason, other than for some sinister purpose. Aside from occasional hunting for subsistence, no one appears to do much of anything other than hanging out in the only hotel's lobby. A hotel for whom? Liz (Anne Francis), the only female resident for miles, runs a service station, but for whom? For Coley's (Ernest Borgnine's) old crate or for Smith's (Robert Ryan's) dilapidated wagon? From a purely economic perspective, in order for these establishments to exist, they need customers, and there just aren't enough of them to justify their survival as "going concerns". It is as if this town lives only in the world of science fiction because it could never subsist in reality. Or could it?The scenes of the train speeding through the remote wilderness, filmed in CinemaScope, are among the most effective segments of the movie. From the very start, by the very presence of the train and even more by its actual stopping for the first time in four years at the town's "station", the viewer immediately senses the sudden, physical encroachment of the civilized world that lies somewhere far from Black Rock.The central character, Macreedy, played very well by a prematurely aging Spencer Tracey, has business with Mr. Komoko, a Japanese-American farmer who supposedly lives outside the town in an area called Adobe Flats. Is it only a coincidence that Lone Pine, California, the film's actual locale, is near the site of Manzanar, one of the largest Japanese-American internment camps during World War II? From the minute he steps off the invasive train, Macreedy is met with intense suspicion, and the discomfort of the townspeople grows even more when he seeks information about Mr. Komoko, of all people. Do the town's mostly idle inhabitants have a problem with the farmer's ethnicity or rather with the fact that he might be the only resident for miles who actually produces anything? Maybe a combination of both.The excellent acting by a very talented cast is one of the most positive aspects of this film. For me, there was too much inactive loafing in the hotel lobby by the mostly disagreeable characters to maintain my interest, but I was surely jolted awake by Mr. Tracy's improvised Molotov cocktail, an experience that is not to be missed."This is my town, Mr. Macreedy, like it or not!" snaps Liz. What's to like here, Liz? Poor Anne Francis. She always ends up in the creepiest places, not only on distant Altair-5 and as a victim of a mean pranks by the thugs of North Manual High but now as a prisoner of this remote, rotten town, consisting of nothing but very unlikable folks. The woman never seems to catch a break.Despite the bone dry sense of total isolation and relative inactivity, see this one for its very able cast. You can't go wrong there.