Main Cast: Randolph Scott, Karen Steele, Pernell Roberts, James Best, Lee Van Cleef
Release Year: 1959
Country: US
Run Time: 73 minutes
Plot
This is one of several solid B-grade Westerns produced at the height of the genre's popularity in the '50s by the partnership of director Budd Boetticher, star Randolph Scott, and writer Burt Kennedy. Scott stars as Ben Brigade, a taciturn bounty hunter who captures wanted murderer Billy John (James Best) and heads for Santa Cruz, where a reward awaits Brigade and a rope most likely awaits the killer. There's more to Brigade than meets the eye, however; his actual quarry is Frank (Lee Van Cleef), his prisoner's brother and the man who killed Brigade's wife. At a trading post where Brigade and his prisoner have stopped, Indians attack. The bounty hunter saves the life of Mrs. Lane (Karen Steele), wife of the post's deceased manager. Lane decides to accompany her rescuer to Santa Cruz, so Brigade, counting on a showdown with Frank, hires outlaws Sam and Whit (Pernell Roberts and James Coburn) for protection on the duration of the journey. During the trip, Sam and Whit discuss betraying Brigade and turning in Billy John themselves for a reward and pardon. Coburn made his screen debut with the film. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Bounty hunter Ben Brigade captures wanted outlaw Billy John, who brags that his brother Frank will never allow Brigade to take Billy John to justice. Along the way, Brigade comes to the rescue of a woman, Carrie Lane, whom he and a pair of unwelcome new partners, gunmen Sam Boone and his friend Whit, take along toward safety. But Brigade knows that the reward on Billy John's head is the real motive behind Sam's and Whit's arrival, and that outlaw leader Frank won't be far behind.
The film plays a prominent role in "The Cursed Tuba Contingency", an episode of The Middleman.
References
^Wilmington, Michael (1992-11-29). "Tall in the Director's Chair Budd Boetticher made some of the best-remembered Westerns of '50s and '60s; they don't make 'em like that (or him) anymore". Los Angeles Times: p. 4.
