Tony Young is on his last day as marshal when Carl Reindel comes into town with his father, crippled R. G. Armstrong's herd, argues with the stock buyer, fires Dan Duryea as foreman, and shoots a hand in his back who quits with the intention of telling Armstrong what's going on. Young tries to arrest him, but Reindel decides to shoot it out, and Young puts him down. Then he has to ride out to Armstrong's ranch with a draft for th money and the news that he has killed his foster father's son. His fiancee, Madlyn Rhue, thinks he'll be dead. Instead, Armstrong's young wife, Jo Morrow, makes a play for him. At Duryea's urging, Armstrong has doctor Joel Fluellen cripplle Young's hand, but while everyone thinks he has, Young is as good as ever; he just can't show it because that will get Fluellen in trouble.
Duryea is in prime psychopathic mode here, and with a stronger director, this might have been a fine little western with a nice subtext. However, neither the script nor director R. G. Springsteen seem to make the effort, and it's all about selfish people versus unselfish people, and hang any subtlety. If Young had any qualms, well, he had knocked around, had a short-lived TV oater, and guest appearances. This was his first lead, and so he was probably happy to do the work and get paid. At least the black&white cinematography by Ellis Carter is first-rate.
Duryea is in prime psychopathic mode here, and with a stronger director, this might have been a fine little western with a nice subtext. However, neither the script nor director R. G. Springsteen seem to make the effort, and it's all about selfish people versus unselfish people, and hang any subtlety. If Young had any qualms, well, he had knocked around, had a short-lived TV oater, and guest appearances. This was his first lead, and so he was probably happy to do the work and get paid. At least the black&white cinematography by Ellis Carter is first-rate.