• A strong revisionist western from Sam Fuller- taking the Wyatt Earp Tombstone story as its base and modifying it. Barbara Stanwyck playing the head of the sort of Clanton family here but also the love interest of the rival US Marshall
  • Shot in black and white cinemascope – Fuller makes full use of the wide frame but keeps the camera active as well

    Shot in black and white cinemascope – Fuller makes full use of the wide frame but keeps the camera active as well

  • I’m not taking anything away from Leone but there is a showdown here between Barry Sullivan’s Griff Bonell and John Ericson’s Brockie Drummond where Fuller goes to an extreme close-up of the eyes of Sullivan during a duel showdown and then intercuts beautifully with a tracking shot in on Ericson’s character as he approaching

    I’m not taking anything away from Leone but there is a showdown here between Barry Sullivan’s Griff Bonell and John Ericson’s Brockie Drummond where Fuller goes to an extreme close-up of the eyes of Sullivan during a duel showdown

    then intercuts beautifully with a tracking shot in on Ericson’s character as he approaching

  • At 15 minute there’s a phenomenal tracking shot that covers the length of the town—starting in the upstairs bedroom, moving down the stairs and down the streets and then the camera pivots at the telegram office to catch Stanwyck riding by—it’s a 4 minute shot, it would be repeated again here at the 53 minute mark—and mirrors the tracking shot of Gene Evans strolling through Park Row in Park Row
  • It is a great role- but she’s up for it- Barbara Stanwyck is commanding. She blows poor Barry Sullivan off the screen
  • Love the long table set piece- massive- she sits at with 20 guys on each side—what a great scene
  • It isn’t on the level of the opening bar scene in Park Row but there’s a long great dialogue sequence between the three Bonell brothers with Chico in the center front of the frame and the other brothers in the wings in the background creating a triangle of heads as they all face towards the camera
  • Dean Jagger has been better—miscast a little as the sniveling sheriff—give me Arthur Kennedy in that role please
  • A great shot of Gene Barry and his lover with the shadow from the guns in the shop hanging over them
  • Like Park Row (a great companion piece to this film) – the two leads are lovers and rivals. He saves her life (in a scene where Stanwyck apparently did her own stunt and hurt herself after a stuntwoman refused) but when they meet there’s both flirtation/innuendo—but also danger and a suspiciousness with subtext like they’re rival mob bosses in The Godfather—it’s fantastic
  • Another nice shot is the monologue Stanwyck has in the shack where Fuller floats the camera down
  • A great depth of field shot and sequence of shots through the windows at the Charlie Savage showdown
  • At 67 minutes there’s the funeral shot. Fuller’s active tracking camera goes from below the ridge to shoot upwards at the widow. The wind is blowing as the camera tracks left past the black carriage to the ballad singer in one shot

    At 67 minutes there’s the funeral shot. Fuller’s active tracking camera goes from below the ridge to shoot upwards at the widow. The wind is blowing as the camera tracks left past the black carriage to the ballad singer in one shot

  • At 70 minutes- dissolves over Stanwyck’s face as the men assemble on the hill. Another one in the scene just after that

    At 70 minutes- dissolves over Stanwyck’s face as the men assemble on the hill. Another one in the scene just after that

  • A strong final frame – long shot of the town and Sullivan leaving with Stanwyck’s character going after
  • A Highly Recommend top 10 of the year quality film