Main Cast: Henry Fonda, Anthony Perkins, Betsy Palmer, Michael Ray, Neville Brand, Lee Van Cleef
Release Year: 1957
Country: US
Run Time: 93 minutes
Plot
Taciturn marshal-turned-bounty hunter Henry Fonda rides into a small town where greenhorn deputy Anthony Perkins is sole representative of the law. Sensing that the boy could use some seasoning, Fonda makes it his mission to teach Perkins how to protect himself against the criminal element. Though diametrically opposed in personality, the older Fonda and the younger Perkins find they are kindred spirits in their dedication to their work. Using the lessons taught him by Fonda, Perkins is able to prove his worth by taking on town hothead Neville Brand. Directed with a minimum of slack and flab by Anthony Mann, The Tin Star was later spun off into the TV series The Deputy, which starred Henry Fonda and Allen Case. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Based on a script written by the aging Dudley Nichols toward the end of his distinguished career, Tin Star has the feel of a man trying to impart a simple lesson before he dies. Director Anthony Mann obviously decided to relegate his formidable talent for capturing rugged Western landscapes to the back burner in a film that was shot mostly on sound stages. Possibly reflecting the cynicism wrought in Hollywood by the blacklist, Fonda's embittered bounty hunter tries to explain to a young sheriff, the reliably neurotic Tony Perkins, how an intuitive understanding of the people he's living among can be more valuable than a fast gun. The film's anti-vigilante sub-theme, a feature of a number of Fonda's movies, also echoes the excesses of the McCarthy era. While it sometimes feels like an inflated version of the kind of TV Western that ruled the airwaves during that time, the film's ambling pace allows for more fully developed characters, and the credibility of the relationship between Fonda and Perkins is enough to carry its familiar homilies. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
John McIntire - Dr. McCord; Mary Webster - Millie Parker; Peter Baldwin - Zeke McGaffey; Richard Shannon - Buck Henderson; James Bell - Judge Thatcher; Howard Petrie - Harvey King; Russell Simpson - Clem Hall; Hal K. Dawson - Andy Miller; Jack Kenney - Sam Hodges; Mickey Finn - McCall; Frank Cady - Abe Pickett; Frank McGrath - Jim Clark; Frank Cordell - Posse Member; Bob Kenaston - Hardman; Tim Sullivan - Virgil Hough
Credit
Hal Pereira - Art Director, J. McMillan Johnson - Art Director, Edith Head - Costume Designer, Michael D. Moore - First Assistant Director, Anthony Mann - Director, Alma Macrorie - Editor, Elmer Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Wally Westmore - Makeup, Loyal Griggs - Cinematographer, William Perlberg - Producer, George Seaton - Producer, Sam Comer - Set Designer, Frank R. McKelvey - Set Designer, Barney Slater - Screen Story, Joel Kane - Screen Story, Dudley Nichols - Screenwriter, Barney Slater - Screenwriter
Universally disdained, bounty hunter Morgan Hickman (Henry Fonda) arrives in a small town with a dead outlaw in tow. While the town's population openly abhors Hickman, young sheriff Ben Owen (Anthony Perkins) admires the man for taking everything in stride and knowing how to handle dangerous situations. When Owens learns Hickman was once a sheriff himself, he convinces Hickman to teach him the ways of a lawman, forcing Hickman to face his past and lost virtues.
