This was one of the few Audie Murphy Westerns I had not seen, and I was not disappointed when I finally got to view it. While it's a typical Western with some bad guys and good guys and people shooting it out, there are also a lot of light-hearted moments and some humor.
Murphy shows up in town and is taken for a famous marshal and hired to be the sheriff. He is actually associated with some bad guys who plan to rob the bank but nobody knows this. The woman-friend of a member of his gang shows up in town and the pair end up pretending to be husband and wife to help cover some of the circumstances of their meeting.
Matthau is the local judge and he is also sort of a foster-father to a young orphan boy named Jimmy. The judge eventually figures out who the new sheriff really is, and knows he is going to have to do something about him even though Jimmy has gotten attached to him. In an actually heart-felt scene, the judge tells Jimmy that someone who has grown up the way Murphy's character has, can never be any good and can never change. Jimmy has himself come from the same kind of circumstances. When the judge sees the look of hurt on his face, thinking that he also is destined to be bad, he says almost pleadingly "I didn't mean that. You know I didn't mean that." The boy who played the role of the orphan was really good - much better and more appealing in my opinion than many better-known child actors of that day or any other. His acting career consisted of only four roles however.
At the end of the movie there is of course a surprise twist and I don't want to give it away, but I'll just say that I enjoyed it and I'll gladly watch it again. I've added it to my DVD collection.
Murphy shows up in town and is taken for a famous marshal and hired to be the sheriff. He is actually associated with some bad guys who plan to rob the bank but nobody knows this. The woman-friend of a member of his gang shows up in town and the pair end up pretending to be husband and wife to help cover some of the circumstances of their meeting.
Matthau is the local judge and he is also sort of a foster-father to a young orphan boy named Jimmy. The judge eventually figures out who the new sheriff really is, and knows he is going to have to do something about him even though Jimmy has gotten attached to him. In an actually heart-felt scene, the judge tells Jimmy that someone who has grown up the way Murphy's character has, can never be any good and can never change. Jimmy has himself come from the same kind of circumstances. When the judge sees the look of hurt on his face, thinking that he also is destined to be bad, he says almost pleadingly "I didn't mean that. You know I didn't mean that." The boy who played the role of the orphan was really good - much better and more appealing in my opinion than many better-known child actors of that day or any other. His acting career consisted of only four roles however.
At the end of the movie there is of course a surprise twist and I don't want to give it away, but I'll just say that I enjoyed it and I'll gladly watch it again. I've added it to my DVD collection.