The Tall T (1957)

Losing his horse in a bet at "The Tall T" ranch, grizzled cowboy Randolph Scott (as Patrick "Pat" Brennan) hitches a ride on the trail with coach driver Arthur Hunnicutt (as Ed Rintoon). Inside the coach are newlywed heiress Maureen O'Sullivan (as Doretta) and her cowardly husband John Hubbard (as Willard Mims). They are quickly abducted by ruthless Richard Boone (as Frank Usher) and his two young guns, uneducated Skip Homeier (as Billy Jack) and slouching Henry Silva (as Chink). They want $50,000 in exchange for Ms. O'Sullivan, who has a wealthy father. This was the second of Mr. Scott's successful series of westerns directed by Budd Boetticher, which feature several other personnel duplications. This one is notable for the characterizations, especially the hero-villain banter between Scott and Mr. Boone. Also, watch for three memorable last scenes featuring the outlaws, especially the one coming after a thwarted rape.******* The Tall T (4/1/57) Budd Boetticher ~ Randolph Scott, Richard Boone, Maureen O'Sullivan, Skip Homeier

Cowboy Pat Brennan (Randolph Scott) gets caught in a hostage situation when some bandits led by bad guy Frank Usher (Richard Boone) hold up a stagecoach he's on. Also held captive are rich Doretta Mims (Maureen O'Sullivan) and husband Willard Mims (John Hubbard). Usher discovers that Doretta is rich and decides to hold her for ransom...but Pat is determined to save her.I'm not a fan of westerns but I agree there are a few classics like "High Noon" and "Ride the High Country". I read that this was a classic but, after seeing it, I can't figure out why! I heard this was an adult western--but what's so adult about it? The conflict and yawningly familiar tough guy dialogue has been before in countless westerns. I pretty much knew what the ending was going to be after the bad guys showed up. This film has nothing great or interesting in it. The acting is good (especially by Scott), the scenery is beautiful in Technicolor and it is well-directed by Budd Boetticher (that's why it gets 2 stars)--but I was bored silly. Maybe for western fans this is a classic but I couldn't wait for it to end. I can't recommend this.

Randolph Scott is arguably at his peak in The Tall T. Close to sixty when the film was released, he is one of only a handful of leading men in Hollywood that could still parlay his looks up to that (by Hollywood standards) advanced age. Scott was blessed with good scripts in the Fifties. His films with director Budd Boetticher (such as Seven Men From Now and Buchanan Rides Alone) were heads above most of the oaters of that time.You will notice Scott as Pat Brennan begins the film as a very happy-go-lucky fellow, not a role Scott often did; in fact I can think of no other movie where he is such a likable sort. He loses a spur-of-the-moment bet early on, yet he remains cheerful despite that loss. But after the capture of the stagecoach on which he is a passenger by a serious gang of cutthroats, things take a decided turn for the worse. His fellow passengers (and hostages) are a pair of newlyweds. Even the dynamic between these two becomes interesting.In spite of the serious disadvantage Pat has, he presses his captors at all times, looking for opportunities to correct the situation. How he manages to work through his (their) plight is for you to observe. There is a scene of terrific violence in the closing moments, and Scott's remonstration to bystander Doretta (the newlywed, played well by Maureen O'Sullivan) is sage advice.The Tall T was filmed, like many Westerns, in the beautiful Alabama Hills just east of Mount Whitney. There is no other location like it, and I can usually, sometimes instantly, recognize that area from just a few frames of a film.Any Randolph Scott Western is worth viewing, this more so than most.Rating: Three stars

Pat Brennan (Randolph Scott) has a small spread that he works by himself, miles from nowhere. On a ride into town to buy a bull, he stops by the stagecoach station for some easygoing conversation, and promises to by the stationmaster's young son some candy. Once in town, he meets an old friend, the coach driver (always-awesome Arthur Hunnicutt) who is in the process of insulting sleazy Willard Mims (John Hubbard) for marrying into money in the form of plain-jane old maid Doretta (Maureen O'Sullivan), daughter of the richest man in the area. Instead of buying a bull from Tenvoorde, his old boss, Brennan allows himself to get suckered into betting that he can ride it and thus win it for free, but instead loses his horse and gets a dunking. He's walking back towards the coach station when he gets picked up by a private stage, driven by muleskinner Ed (Hunnicutt) and carrying the newlywed Mims. Unfortunately, something has happened at the station....After a couple of reels of easygoing fun and character development, we're in a different world as The Tall T rapidly shifts from lighthearted and almost comedy mode to a grim hostage drama, as Brennan and the Mims have to figure out how to stay alive after being captured by Frank (Richard Boone) and his two gunslinging helpers Chenk (with an i) (Frank Silva) and Billy Jack (Skip Homeier). A simple enough plot, but as with Seven Men From Now Boetticher and screenwriter Burt Kennedy kick this tale up several notches by making the chief outlaw every bit as interesting and watchable as Lee Marvin's Masters was in the previous film. Frank is closer to Brennan's age, clearly fairly smart and somewhat educated, always ready with a flip, brief comment - in fact in the early scenes his to-the-point dialog almost mirror's Scott's usual taciturnity - and he clearly sees a kinship between himself and the rancher, which helps to keep Brennan alive and the story with it.As in the earlier film, the woman has made a poor choice of husbands, though in this case we know pretty much from the start that Sims is despicable, and it's quite clear that he values his own skin more than this plain-jane he's married just for her father's dough; he is the one who comes up with the idea to ransom them all for daddy's money, and is quick enough to leave when offered the chance, without her. When he gets his, it's clear that the outlaws consider him lower than themselves, and Frank says as much to Brennan. Brennan has no answer - honor to him is felt and lived, not talked about; he knows that Frank isn't - or wasn't - as low deep down as his two henchmen (especially Silva's truly psychotic character, played with gusto by this specialist in scumbags) - but he knows that as Frank stays with them, he's brought down to their level, not keeping them from sinking. And this is what seals his fate, ultimately; if there was a chance for redemption there, he long since passed it by.Beautifully filmed in Lone Pine, CA - the same location as Seven Men From Now and two further films in the series - once again Boetticher is in command of all the elements. The performances are uniformly fine, with Boone especially fantastic - the violence is quick, sometimes unexpected, no more than necessary but all the more potent for that. The score by Heinz Roemheld is stirring and romantic and seems to belong to a "bigger" film, but then this film is bigger than its budget and running time would suggest. Another terrific entry in the cycle.