The Tall T
- Rating:




- Genre: Western
- Movie Type: B-Western
- Themes: Hostage Situations, Cattle Ranchers
- Director: Budd Boetticher
- Main Cast: Randolph Scott, Richard Boone, Maureen O'Sullivan, Arthur Hunnicutt, Skip Homeier
- Release Year: 1957
- Country: US
- Run Time: 77 minutes
Plot
Perhaps the grittiest and grimmest of the Randolph Scott-Budd Boetticher collaborations, The Tall T was adapted by Burt Kennedy from the Elmore Leonard short story The Captive. Scott plays a former ranch foreman who, along with newlyweds Maureen O'Sullivan and John Hubbard, is held hostage at a deserted stagecoach station by ruthless bandit Richard Boone and his henchmen Henry Silva and Skip Homeier. Since we already know that Boone has no qualms about killing a freckle-faced 10 year old boy, we shudder to think of what's in store for Scott and his fellow captives once Boone carries out his plan to rob the next stagecoach. In Boetticher's time-honored Mexican Standoff fashion, Scott bargains with Boone for the life of O'Sullivan, but his efforts are undercut by Hubbard's cowardly treachery. The film's sparse, carefully controlled tension level bursts into full-out bloodshed only minutes before the final fade-out. Curiously, the title The Tall T is never explained at any time; certainly the "T" doesn't refer to Randolph Scott, whose character name is Pat Brennan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideReview
Adapted from a story by Elmore Leonard, this may be the best of Boetticher's cult Westerns of the '50s. Like the others, it's a lean, laconic tale of grace under pressure, whose minimal budget allowed the director a measure of stylistic freedom. As always, a leathery Randolph Scott embodies Boetticher's vision of the weary loner who must now depend more on nerve than muscle in negotiating the hazards of the west. The plot hangs on the fascination of Richard Boone's stage-robber with the integrity of an opponent whose blend of stoicism and wary intelligence provides a welcome relief from the company of his moronic sidekicks. The low-key sparring of the two leads reveals how much both men have in common, and the film's surprisingly complex morality is able to encompass a range of behavior that would mark neither as sinner or saint. Scott's rock-ribbed iconography fits perfectly here, but it's Boone, Leonard's favorite actor, who steals the film as a violent man wondering where he went wrong. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie GuideCast
- Randolph Scott - Pat Brennan
- Richard Boone - Frank Usher
- Maureen O'Sullivan - Doretta Mims
- Arthur Hunnicutt - Ed Rintoon
- Skip Homeier - Billy Jack
Henry Silva - Chink; John Hubbard - Willard Mims; Robert Burton - Tenvoorde; Robert Anderson - Jace; Fred E. Sherman - Hank Parker; Christopher Olsen - Jeff




