Western starring Sam Elliott, Tom Conti and Kate Capshaw. 1876: when the McKaskels' wagon rolls through Bender's Flats in wild Wyoming the family meets with trouble and a rugged stranger. Relentlessly pursued by a violent gang, the tenderfoot settlers come to rely on the straight-talking sharpshooter, but can he be trusted?
This doomy, moody melodrama is based on an old Clifford Odets play that predated A Streetcar Named Desire in its similar plot. Tough Barbara Stanwyck returns to her seaside home town, marries straight Paul Douglas, but hankers after smooth projectionist Robert Ryan, and her scenes with Ryan have a dark brooding intensity all of their own. Those top-billed stars are of secondary interest today, however, as this movie features an early appearance by Marilyn Monroe, giving an intelligent and astoundingly sexy performance - unmissable moments, and one suspects that Monroe knew exactly what she was about. What is surprising is that this inexpensive RKO melodrama is from once revered émigré director Fritz Lang, who fails to disguise the inherent dullness of the original material or to mask the obvious studio backdrops and poor matching front projection. Watch it for Stanwyck and Ryan, and Monroe on the rise.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Con Vallian | Sam Elliott |
| Duncan McKaskel | Tom Conti |
| Susanna McKaskel | Kate Capshaw |
| Tom McKaskel | Kenny Morrison |
| Ute | Patrick Kilpatrick |
| Doc Shabitt | Matt Clark |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Robert Day |
