The Tin Star (1957)

. . . where the Real Killer is NOT who you think he is (but the latter winds up kicking the bucket anyway), where SHANE rides off--not alone--but in THREE'S COMPANY, where Norman Bates never takes a shower but still gets shot in the head, where the guest of honor arrives at his big party dead, and where Hanoi Jane's dad does NOT need to knock down any Real Life U.S. Brigadier General War Heroes to make a point. THE TIN STAR outshines most of the Westerns featuring that over-rated bloated buffoon "Marion Mitchell Morrison" (except perhaps FORT APACHE, which was saved by the star of THIS film). "Morgan Hickman" is a man's man, NOT a braggart freak named after a chicken, such as "Rooster Cogburn." Morgan has more TRUE GRIT in his facial stubble than the depressed child of divorce (who renamed himself after the family mutt) had in his entire 350 pounds of dead weight. American Westerns would retain far more respect in the World of Cinema if Captain Jackalope (with his "Dagwood Bumstead" shirts) had left the play-acting to Real Men, such as the PSYCHO ON GOLDEN POND folks of THE TIN STAR.

Westerns of the 50's are the best and to be missed if not for the fact we can see them again via rentals, DVD's and TCM entertainment. They had the quality movie stars, great plot points, good subject matter, were educational and tugged at all our emotions. Throw in horses, good and bad guys, love interest, dust, posse's and some shootings and we are off! Fonda comes through as a veteran of the time who survived using his abilities, guts, savvy and experience but gets dealt a life blow which he doesn't recover from until this movie. Its a believable story and will pull you in. Then there is the new sheriff who wants to do good and right but doesn't know what that is. That be Perkins. Put him together with Fonda and the story takes hold. The Wild West was unexplored times and territories and there are no end to the stories that came out of it. This be one of them. Good solid entertainment from start to finish with one of the best endings around. Feel good is so thick you can cut it with a knife. That's good directing. Enjoy a nice meal while watching along with a tasty drink too. Saddle up

The Tin Star is directed by Anthony Mann and the screenplay written by Dudley Nichols who adapts from a story by Joel Kane & Barney Slater. It stars Henry Fonda, Anthony Perkins, Betsy Palmer, Neville Brand, John McIntire and Lee Van Cleef. Loyal Griggs is on black and white photography duty and Elmer Bernstein scores the music.Bounty hunter Morgan Hickman (Fonda) rides into a small American town with a dead outlaw for company. He's here to claim the reward money put up but finds that most of the town despise him for what he does. However, Ben Owens (Perkins), the town's young greenhorn sheriff, sees something in Morgan that he greatly admires. When Morgan comes to Ben's aid during a run in with the town bully, Bart Bogardus (Brand), it's the start of a friendship that could alter the rest of their lives.Based on a short story and with no great budget behind it, it was something of a surprise that The Tin Star was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Writing Category (it lost out to Designing Woman - George Wells). Tho classy as a character study, the film has often been criticised for being over talky and preachy into the bargain. This was Mann's first Western movie after leaving behind actor James Stewart and writer Borden Chase after a run of genre defining classics. Here it finds the great director playing safe, producing a Western more in the traditional mould than the psychologically tough edged one he helped to shape. True enough it is didactic, across the humanistic board, and there's no getting away from the fact that the film reeks with predictability. But Mann still crafts his story well whilst giving it the odd visual flourish; even if it only truly feels like a Mann picture once Ben and Morgan hit the mountains in pursuit of criminals and a wandering boy.It can be argued that The Tin Star is guilty by association with so many similar Westerns of its ilk. It's galling that Mann felt a need to shift from where he was at in the genre to, what? Be accepted? Luckily for Western fans Budd Boetticher was plugging the gap left by the Mann/Stewart fall out with the excellent movies made with Randolph Scott. While Mann returned to arguably great form with Man Of The West (Garry Cooper in the saddle) 2 years later. Fonda here is iconic and every inch the Western dude, eyes like chips of ice and a stubbled face that's home to a mouth that can tell sad tales and impart pearls of wisdom. Perkins is twitchy, amiable and easy to side with as he searches for the skills to solidify his backbone. I don't buy the criticism's of the pair, that they are dressage cowboys, they have a warmth to their pairing, and it proves to be a most engaging father & son like relationship.Away from the leads, Brand is his customary gravel voiced ball of machismo, revelling in playing another snarly villain. Palmer and Mary Webster aren't asked to do much in the two main female roles, but both are on cue and easy on the eye. While Cleef is only in a small support role but he leaves a marker for better things to come. It 's John McIntire who takes the acting honours as the town doctor, it's a critical role, the catalyst role in fact (I promise you will remember his whole birthday sequence). His turn is a classy bit of glue binding the narrative together. Be it eloquently holding court with common sense chatter, or commanding in his surgical saw bones manner, it's a fine performance from a great American character actor.I enjoy the film very much, and find on revisits that it has aged better than many other similar themed Oaters. Far from perfect, and certainly miles away from being in the top section of a best of list of Anthony Mann Western's, it's still, however, a film that leaves a favourable mark once the film has reached its memorable conclusion. 7/10

This is a highly unusual film due to its odd casting of Anthony Perkins as a sheriff in the Old West. No offense to Mr. Perkins' memory, but he looks nothing like you'd expect for a sheriff and I can't help but think of his performances as Jim Piersall or Norman Bates and laugh a bit! Aside from maybe Montgomery Clift as a tough soldier in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, it might be one of the worst cases of a "fish out of water" in film history. Now to some extent, this is exactly the intention of the writers. Perkins was supposed to be a nice but gentle boy who was way over his head--though he did seem to be a rather extreme choice even at that! Especially because this town needed a strong man to keep order and Perkins just didn't have it in him.Into town comes bounty hunter Henry Fonda who eventually feels sorry for Perkins and takes it upon himself to try to toughen him up a bit. This is especially important because the town is rather lawless and the "good" townspeople are jerks--Perkins truly is alone.Now there's a lot more to this film including Fonda's relationship with a little boy and his mother, a town bully as well as a stage robbery. All these elements work together well and the movie manages to rise above the usual mediocrity of the genre--thanks to some decent acting, an excellent script and especially Anthony Mann's very capable direction. Mann made some of the best Westerns of the 1950s--including such great Jimmy Stewart films as WINCHESTER '73, THE NAKED SPUR and THE MAN FROM LARAMIE. So with this pedigree, it wasn't all that surprising that I thoroughly enjoyed this film--even with the odd casting of Perkins.