The Tall T (1957) is a small film but considered by critics a masterful second feature western which tells the story of Pat Brennan (Randolph Scott), a lone cowboy seeking to set up his own homestead after a lifetime ranching for others.

Plot

Passing a stagecoach way station on his journey into town, Pat Brennan agrees to return with some meagre goods for the friendly owner's young son. Leaving town, he is persuaded to risk his horse in a bet to possess a seed bull that would build his stock. He is next seen footsore on the road home, horse presumably lost in the bet, but welcomes rescue by a lift from stagecoach driver Rintoon (Arthur Hunnicutt), hired to transport Willard Mimms (John Hubbard) and his new wife Maureen O'Sullivan on their honeymoon. So far, the mood of the film has been light-hearted, the relationships teasing. Suddenly, it takes on an altogether darker mood. Mistaking the coach for the regular stage, a gang of outlaws hides in the dark interior of the waystation. Led by Usher (Richard Boone), the command to drop their guns leads to the shooting of Rintoon by Chink (Henry Silva), the vain and heartless second member of the gang. As if the death of a character we have grown to enjoy is not enough, we then learn with Brennan that the waystation father and son have been killed too, their bodies thrown ignominiously down the well. Brennan's anger at their fate and hatred of the gang is expressed more in looks than speech, as when the third gang member, Billy Jack (Skip Homeier) greedily takes the candy intended for the child. Fearful of sharing the same fate, Mimm's terror leads him to reveal that his wife is worth a ransom. The rest of the film then plays out the consequences of the kidnap, while Usher protects Brennan, even though there is no gain in it and he even 'answers back', and Mrs. Mimms high up in the rocks (on location, at Lone Pine, California). Unlike Mimms and the two young gang members, Usher and Brennan recognise in each other people of worth, self-reliant, self-aware, who in different circumstances might have been friends. Brennan knows, however, that he and Mrs. Mimms can only survive with the deaths of the whole gang. The gang will therefore die one by one by Brennan's hand, as horribly and ignobly as those before him, but the conventional promise of a happy resolution as the new couple - Brennan and the now widowed Mrs. Mimms - walk away together is undercut by the sense that this is the result of revenge rather more than justice.

The movie was adapted by Burt Kennedy from Elmore Leonard's short story "The Captives." It was directed by Budd Boetticher. In 2000 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Featured cast

External links

The Tall T at the Internet Movie Database

The Tall T at the TCM Movie Database

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