**SPOILERS** Fritz Lang western circa 1874 about murder and revenge with Vern Haskell, Authur Kennedy, out by himself looking for the killer of his fiancé Beth Forbes (Gloria Henry), who was shot to death in a robbery. That in the end leads him to the notorious Chuck-O-luck Ranch owned by former saloon singer and dancer Altar Keane, Marlene Dietrich.
At the ranch after a number of adventures, where he's almost killed by both the local lawmen and criminals, Vern knows that one of the badman there who's being protected from the law is his fiancé's killer. For Vern to find out who is takes up almost the entire movie. The clue that gives killer away is a diamond broach that Altar has that was given to her by Beth's killer.
The killer gets the jump on Vern first by realizing who he is, by the way he mounts his horse, and that he's at the Chuck-O-Luck Ranch only looking for him and is not a wanted man like the rest of the desperadoes there. The killer then plans to knock him off in a coming bank robbery that the bunch of badmen at the Chuck-O-Luck planned the next day.
Off-the-wall cowboy film that has a lot of hidden meanings in it, like all of Fritz Langs movies. Marlene Dietrich more or less re-creates her role in "Destry Rides Again" that she made some 13 years earlier back in 1939 but this time she's a lot more subdued and no where as frisky in her role but the movie, to it's producers credit, is in glorious color not black and white.
So-so story that just doesn't take off at all but with a much better cast then you would have expected in it due to the fact that the legendary Fritz Lang directed it and it was bankrolled by Howard Hughs' RKO studios. Altar's ranch was a favorite among the local badmen since she provided safety food and shelter for them but at the cost of 10% of their illegal take and was making a fairly good living out of it. It seemed that the local sheriff was either totally unaware of what Altar was doing or was being paid off by her to look the other way. It was Altar falling in love with Vern to the dislike of her former lover the fugitive gunfighter Frenchy, Mel Ferrer, that caused sparks and bullets to fly and destroyed the sanctuary that she ran for so long.
In the end after the usual and customary western-style shoot-out with almost everyone in the cast ending up dead it was the two lovers of Altar, Vern & Frenchy, who rode off in the sunset together forgetting their differences about the rivalry that they had over her.The movie had a very irritating and annoying theme song all through it that made it come across more funny then serious. There's also George"Superman" Reeves playing Wilson who besides being one of the bad guys was also a big ladies man in the movie.
At the ranch after a number of adventures, where he's almost killed by both the local lawmen and criminals, Vern knows that one of the badman there who's being protected from the law is his fiancé's killer. For Vern to find out who is takes up almost the entire movie. The clue that gives killer away is a diamond broach that Altar has that was given to her by Beth's killer.
The killer gets the jump on Vern first by realizing who he is, by the way he mounts his horse, and that he's at the Chuck-O-Luck Ranch only looking for him and is not a wanted man like the rest of the desperadoes there. The killer then plans to knock him off in a coming bank robbery that the bunch of badmen at the Chuck-O-Luck planned the next day.
Off-the-wall cowboy film that has a lot of hidden meanings in it, like all of Fritz Langs movies. Marlene Dietrich more or less re-creates her role in "Destry Rides Again" that she made some 13 years earlier back in 1939 but this time she's a lot more subdued and no where as frisky in her role but the movie, to it's producers credit, is in glorious color not black and white.
So-so story that just doesn't take off at all but with a much better cast then you would have expected in it due to the fact that the legendary Fritz Lang directed it and it was bankrolled by Howard Hughs' RKO studios. Altar's ranch was a favorite among the local badmen since she provided safety food and shelter for them but at the cost of 10% of their illegal take and was making a fairly good living out of it. It seemed that the local sheriff was either totally unaware of what Altar was doing or was being paid off by her to look the other way. It was Altar falling in love with Vern to the dislike of her former lover the fugitive gunfighter Frenchy, Mel Ferrer, that caused sparks and bullets to fly and destroyed the sanctuary that she ran for so long.
In the end after the usual and customary western-style shoot-out with almost everyone in the cast ending up dead it was the two lovers of Altar, Vern & Frenchy, who rode off in the sunset together forgetting their differences about the rivalry that they had over her.The movie had a very irritating and annoying theme song all through it that made it come across more funny then serious. There's also George"Superman" Reeves playing Wilson who besides being one of the bad guys was also a big ladies man in the movie.