First of all, what a cast, eh? Not just Lee Marvin with his pendulous lower lip, but Strother Martin, James Best, and Lee Van Cleef in strong supporting roles. And good performances from all. Alas, Ellen Willard as the miscreants sister can't act, but Marvin makes up for it. On the screen and off. He showed up so drunk one day that he backed his horse into some items on the set before falling off. Next day he apologized and all went well.
Second, I've finally figured out what makes Rod Serling's appearances so mysterious and magnetic. He has a compelling baritone voice, but when he speaks to the camera his upper lips doesn't move, just his lower lip. This is made even more noticeable by his pronounced nasolingual folds.
Marvin Connie Miller who has been tracking gunslinger Pinto Sykes for a long time. He arrives in town just after eight of the residents have shot Pinto to death and buried him in Boot Hill. "Right next to his Maw, just like he wanted, only twenty feet away cause she was such a right woman she wouldn't have it no closer." Did Marvin deliberately avoid meeting up with Old Pinto? Was he afraid? Is he STILL afraid. It's a windy night and several bar patrons bet him that he won't go up to Pinto's grave alone and leave a knife stuck into the freshly dug earth. "Now why would I be afraid of a dead man?", asks Marvin. "Because WE would be!", replies Strother Martin. (There are a couple of such clever exchanges.) Marvin manages the feat but pays a price in which the supernatural may or may not have had a hand.
The story adheres to all the old cowboy conventions of being fast on the draw and so forth but the performances compensate for it. Marvin wears the kind of army field cap he wore in "The Professionals" a few years later. And, in fact, three of the principles -- Marvin, Martin, and Van Cleef were just finished working together on John Ford's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." Pretty good for what it is.
Second, I've finally figured out what makes Rod Serling's appearances so mysterious and magnetic. He has a compelling baritone voice, but when he speaks to the camera his upper lips doesn't move, just his lower lip. This is made even more noticeable by his pronounced nasolingual folds.
Marvin Connie Miller who has been tracking gunslinger Pinto Sykes for a long time. He arrives in town just after eight of the residents have shot Pinto to death and buried him in Boot Hill. "Right next to his Maw, just like he wanted, only twenty feet away cause she was such a right woman she wouldn't have it no closer." Did Marvin deliberately avoid meeting up with Old Pinto? Was he afraid? Is he STILL afraid. It's a windy night and several bar patrons bet him that he won't go up to Pinto's grave alone and leave a knife stuck into the freshly dug earth. "Now why would I be afraid of a dead man?", asks Marvin. "Because WE would be!", replies Strother Martin. (There are a couple of such clever exchanges.) Marvin manages the feat but pays a price in which the supernatural may or may not have had a hand.
The story adheres to all the old cowboy conventions of being fast on the draw and so forth but the performances compensate for it. Marvin wears the kind of army field cap he wore in "The Professionals" a few years later. And, in fact, three of the principles -- Marvin, Martin, and Van Cleef were just finished working together on John Ford's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." Pretty good for what it is.