Warning: Possible spoilers.
An absolute gem, this wonderful western - shot in black and white on rugged, interesting locations, is a sheer pleasure from beginning to end. It is something to cherish. The quiet, handsome Joel McCrea - playing the most thoroughly decent outlaw I've ever come across in a western, has never been more appealing as the bank robber on the run.
Using his pointed gun as collateral, Ross McEwan (McCrea) makes a $2000 "loan" from a bank - right under Pat Garrett's (Bickford) nose. The furious bank manager puts up a reward of $3000 for his capture: dead or alive. So Garrett - a pretty good guy who is going to make damn sure no one shoots Ross in the back, and a posse set off in hot pursuit. The crafty McEwan jumps on a train and evades capture with a help of a baby and a blanket. He meets the honest, attractive railway nurse Fay Hollister (Frances Dee) and the mysterious Mexican gambler Monte Marquez (Joseph Calleia) while on the train. Fay realizes that Ross has broken the law and is a wanted man, but she falls in love with him anyway - hell, she's ready to sacrifice her job and follow him to the ends of the earth. Of course, every bounty hunter in the territory is now also searching for Ross.
With Monte's help, Ross continues to evade the determined Garrett and eventually travels across the desert - on a bull. On the way, however, Ross stops to find a horse and comes across a poor, sick Mexican family at their little homestead. The father, his wife and their two small boys are desperately ill. They will all surely die if Ross doesn't stop to help. But if he stays and tries to save them, the law will catch up with him and he won't make it across the border...
Seeing Joel McCrea and his wife Frances Dee romantically paired is rather lovely; they have real chemistry (it's no surprise their marriage lasted for over 50 years). The four leads are all pitch perfect in their roles, but a marvelous Joseph Calleia deserves a special mention. If this exciting, unusual, uplifting and richly romantic western (in which not one shot is fired or a single punch thrown) doesn't touch you, you have an ice-cold, cynical heart of stone. Based on a story by Eugene Manlove Rhodes called "Paso por Aqui" ("They Passed This Way"). Highly recommended.
An absolute gem, this wonderful western - shot in black and white on rugged, interesting locations, is a sheer pleasure from beginning to end. It is something to cherish. The quiet, handsome Joel McCrea - playing the most thoroughly decent outlaw I've ever come across in a western, has never been more appealing as the bank robber on the run.
Using his pointed gun as collateral, Ross McEwan (McCrea) makes a $2000 "loan" from a bank - right under Pat Garrett's (Bickford) nose. The furious bank manager puts up a reward of $3000 for his capture: dead or alive. So Garrett - a pretty good guy who is going to make damn sure no one shoots Ross in the back, and a posse set off in hot pursuit. The crafty McEwan jumps on a train and evades capture with a help of a baby and a blanket. He meets the honest, attractive railway nurse Fay Hollister (Frances Dee) and the mysterious Mexican gambler Monte Marquez (Joseph Calleia) while on the train. Fay realizes that Ross has broken the law and is a wanted man, but she falls in love with him anyway - hell, she's ready to sacrifice her job and follow him to the ends of the earth. Of course, every bounty hunter in the territory is now also searching for Ross.
With Monte's help, Ross continues to evade the determined Garrett and eventually travels across the desert - on a bull. On the way, however, Ross stops to find a horse and comes across a poor, sick Mexican family at their little homestead. The father, his wife and their two small boys are desperately ill. They will all surely die if Ross doesn't stop to help. But if he stays and tries to save them, the law will catch up with him and he won't make it across the border...
Seeing Joel McCrea and his wife Frances Dee romantically paired is rather lovely; they have real chemistry (it's no surprise their marriage lasted for over 50 years). The four leads are all pitch perfect in their roles, but a marvelous Joseph Calleia deserves a special mention. If this exciting, unusual, uplifting and richly romantic western (in which not one shot is fired or a single punch thrown) doesn't touch you, you have an ice-cold, cynical heart of stone. Based on a story by Eugene Manlove Rhodes called "Paso por Aqui" ("They Passed This Way"). Highly recommended.