A lynch mob breaks up the romance between Jim Guthrie (Dana Andrews) and Laurie Mastin (Donna Reed), when Laurie's over-protective brother Carter (Richard Webb) is found dead. Everyone is sure it's Jim who killed him because he (Carter) wouldn't let Jim marry Laurie. He wanted her to marry the more respectable and wealthy Niles (Richard Coogan). Deke, the town barber, played by Whit Bissel, leads the mob that puts the rope around Jim's neck. Bissel's part is pretty interesting, as he is normally cast in more sympathetic roles. Only by luck does Jim get away, only to return from hiding out in the desert months later to find out who really killed Laurie's brother and to clear his own name. When he does come back he finds that Laurie and Niles are now married and their son is actually his. That aspect of this movie makes it interesting. There are enough bad lines in the movie to make it not very worthy, but by the end the story's more intriguing aspects win out, making this a more thoughtful western than it actually appears to be.
Review of Three Hours to Kill
