Rory Calhoun plays the dissipated gambler/gunslinger on some kind of a road to redemption with Piper Laurie, with plenty of other well-known actors, some good dialogue, some obligatory gun-toting, and even a little musical interest thrown into the mix.
Calhoun may cough like a consumptive, but according to his doctor it is an old gunshot wound plus his louche lifestyle that is giving him gyp;
"alright, what is it?"
"you know why you have been coughing so much recently? - you never gave that wound time to heal properly and it is inflaming the lung."
"Is that a medical opinion, or a fact?"
"Oh, the way you go at it with whiskey, women, and poker... it's a sucker's game!"
"I always figured that 'the game' would end with one well-placed bullet..."
"Well, it still might; there's a lot of shooting days before Christmas..."
Before he leaves for healthier climes, Calhoun plays classical piano at his own 'wake' (held in celebration of his departure) in a scene unlike any in other western genre movies I've seen. At a saloon girl's behest to 'play something' he taps out a pretty fair rendition of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on the Saloon's beat-up piano, which reduces the room to appreciative silence.
Later, in the stagecoach with Piper Laurie, when she comes to the aid of this stranger having a coughing fit, the accompanying music subtly echoes the Moonlight Sonata theme as if to underline his character's more vulnerable side.
Comment elsewhere may lead you to suppose that the back-projected scenery from the stagecoach is sepia-tinted stock monochrome footage; this might be so, but the sky is blue, and in the long shots the barren landscape is almost equally sepia-tinted. If it is the case, it makes little difference.
Piper Laurie's acting is a little stiff, as befits her character perhaps, but then she is also pretty well trussed up in period corsetry for most of the piece; I'm surprised she could breathe, leave alone act.
It is best to pay good attention at the start of this film; many of the protagonists are introduced by the narrator in a very short period of time. If you miss this, the rest of the film makes even less sense than it does already; it smacks of having been cut somewhat from its planned length.
Overall, a somewhat underrated movie, this one.
Calhoun may cough like a consumptive, but according to his doctor it is an old gunshot wound plus his louche lifestyle that is giving him gyp;
"alright, what is it?"
"you know why you have been coughing so much recently? - you never gave that wound time to heal properly and it is inflaming the lung."
"Is that a medical opinion, or a fact?"
"Oh, the way you go at it with whiskey, women, and poker... it's a sucker's game!"
"I always figured that 'the game' would end with one well-placed bullet..."
"Well, it still might; there's a lot of shooting days before Christmas..."
Before he leaves for healthier climes, Calhoun plays classical piano at his own 'wake' (held in celebration of his departure) in a scene unlike any in other western genre movies I've seen. At a saloon girl's behest to 'play something' he taps out a pretty fair rendition of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on the Saloon's beat-up piano, which reduces the room to appreciative silence.
Later, in the stagecoach with Piper Laurie, when she comes to the aid of this stranger having a coughing fit, the accompanying music subtly echoes the Moonlight Sonata theme as if to underline his character's more vulnerable side.
Comment elsewhere may lead you to suppose that the back-projected scenery from the stagecoach is sepia-tinted stock monochrome footage; this might be so, but the sky is blue, and in the long shots the barren landscape is almost equally sepia-tinted. If it is the case, it makes little difference.
Piper Laurie's acting is a little stiff, as befits her character perhaps, but then she is also pretty well trussed up in period corsetry for most of the piece; I'm surprised she could breathe, leave alone act.
It is best to pay good attention at the start of this film; many of the protagonists are introduced by the narrator in a very short period of time. If you miss this, the rest of the film makes even less sense than it does already; it smacks of having been cut somewhat from its planned length.
Overall, a somewhat underrated movie, this one.