THE TALL STRANGER

Joel McCrea always brings a sense of decency to any of his roles, in a way that even in the days of the Wild West (as in this 1957 Western) must have seemed a mite old fashioned.

He always wants to do the right thing - here he’s trying to stop a lot of killing but he sure has his work cut out.  

On one side is his bull-headed half-brother Bishop who owns more land than he knows what to do with but who's determined to protect it at any cost.

On the other side is a devious piece of work, Harper, who wants to get his hands on Bishop’s cattle.  He has a cunning plan to do so, involving a bunch of innocent settlers who he has brought to Bishop's land, so that there will be a battle between them and Bishop's men.  In addition Harper has employed the services of a criminal, Zarata, and his men. 

It's an intriguing setup which held my attention throughout.  Admittedly the settlers are largely a forgettable bunch, other than an eye-catching widow, Ellen, played by Virginia Mayo.  She displays just enough cleavage to indicate she doesn’t really fit in, and sure enough we eventually learn that during the Civil War she had to do whatever a girl had to do to survive.  

Not that this worries Bannon much.  Their slow burn relationship is a good reason to watch this Western which is not directed with any great distinction.  

The film would be a lot duller without Ellen, who is a spunky character who shows in one memorable scene that she’s handy with a gun.

Things seem to be boiling up nicely when the settlers mistakenly think Bannon has killed someone, and Bannon, unaware of this, is planning to make one last attempt to persuade them to leave the land.  

Unfortunately nothing comes of this and the film subsides into a standard gun fight.  Still, there are enough good scenes before the finale to make this an enjoyable if not especially memorable film of its type.