Ugh. This is one tiresome Western. Now I love Westerns, but not this one. There is not an iota of clever dialogue, just a boatload of clichés. Tab Hunter, though not unsympathetic, has an emotional range that makes Audie Murphy (my hero) look like Lawrence Olivier. Natalie Wood, though beautiful, has a Mexican accent that sounds heavy Slavic more than anything. The fight scenes go on waaaaay too long, and there is too much filler of men riding horses.
The only saving graces are the character actors who make the best out of almost nothing. Skip Homeier is delightfully obnoxious and weaselly as always (see The Gunfighter, for his most memorable role); Claude Akins is dependable; and Earl Holliman looks and sounds like he is Larry the Cable Guy's younger and thinner brother.
An odd sub-theme in this film, though not fully explored, is mixed-race breeding. Natalie Wood's mother was Mexican, but her father was a "Yankee" (though she hates all Gringoes). And Eduard Franz's tracker has a mother who is Indian, but a father who is Dutch(!). Weird.
Unless you are desperate for a Western fix, skip it, or be prepared to use your fast-forward a lot.
The only saving graces are the character actors who make the best out of almost nothing. Skip Homeier is delightfully obnoxious and weaselly as always (see The Gunfighter, for his most memorable role); Claude Akins is dependable; and Earl Holliman looks and sounds like he is Larry the Cable Guy's younger and thinner brother.
An odd sub-theme in this film, though not fully explored, is mixed-race breeding. Natalie Wood's mother was Mexican, but her father was a "Yankee" (though she hates all Gringoes). And Eduard Franz's tracker has a mother who is Indian, but a father who is Dutch(!). Weird.
Unless you are desperate for a Western fix, skip it, or be prepared to use your fast-forward a lot.