Well Deserved Praise

Such a frustrating disappointment

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This is representative of the sort of bread and butter fodder that Robert Mitchum, still being billed as Bob, worked his way through during his early apprenticeship at Republic before moving up the ladder and being taken on at RKO. The picture is absolutely no different from any of the multitude of oaters that lower rung studios like Republic churned out ceaselessly to fill the theatres lower half of a double bill. Man with a mysterious past? Check. Goofy sidekick? Check. Righteous sheriff who wants to keep the peace? Check. And on and on. Unless you're a fan of these programmers the only reason to catch this one is to observe the indefinable thing that is star quality. Robert Mitchum had it in spades. Whereas everyone else in the picture is adequate to passable Mitchum is already his fully formed laconic self, relaxed and charismatic like no else in the picture can even approach effortlessly pulling focus whenever the camera turns his way. He's the reason to watch this short shoot em up but once your curiosity is satisfied you'll never watch it again.