The Tall Stranger (1957)

Director:

Thomas Carr

Writers:

Christopher Knopf (screenplay)
Louis L'Amour (story)

Release Date:

17 November 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

He Rode Tall And He Walked Tall... The Stranger out of Nowhere! The wagon train hated him, even after his gun had saved them from a massacre!

Plot:

Ned Bannon comes across rustlers and is shot and left for dead, but is found in time by a wagon train heading for California...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Based On Novel

Cast

Joel McCrea	...	Ned Bannon
Virginia Mayo	...	Ellen
Barry Kelley	...	Hardy Bishop
Michael Ansara	...	Zarata
Whit Bissell	...	Adam Judson
James Dobson	...	Dud
George N. Neise	...	Mort Harper (as George Neise)
Adam Kennedy	...	Red
Michael Pate	...	Charley
Leo Gordon	...	Stark
Ray Teal	...	Cap
Philip Phillips	...	Will
Robert Foulk	...	Pagones
Jennifer Lea	...	Mary (as Jenifer Lea)
George J. Lewis	...	Chavez

Also Known As:

Walk Tall (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:Approved (certificate #18641) | UK:PG | Finland:K-16 | West Germany:16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Morrison Ranch, California, USA

Company:

Allied Artists Pictures

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "M Squad: Shot in the Dark (#1.28)" (1958)

Range war Western

Joel McCrae and Virginia Mayo appeared together in the previous decade when directed by the great Raoul Walsh in the seminal Colorado Territory .The movie under review here is not as good -even close to being -as that wonderful picture but it is a sturdy B movie Western that will give genre lovers a lot of pleasure McCrae is Ned Barton , a Union army Civil war veteran who is shot and seriously wounded when stumbling across evidence of cattle rustling .He is nursed back to health by members of a wagon train moving to California.They are making for Bishop's Valley land they aim to cross without permission of its owner ,the authoritarian landowner Bishop (Barry Kelly).When the train's guide Harper (George Neise)encourages them to stay Harper fears a range war is inevitable -he is Bishop's estranged half brother and knows Bishop will not take kindly to this incursion on his land .Harper has an ulterior motive -he is in alliance with a bandit (Michael Ansara) and schemes for the two parties to kill each other and then use the bandit gang to move in.McCrae tries to act as a buffer between the two sides The movie is well shot and decently acted -especially by Leo Gordon is a rare sympathetic role as Bishop's top hand and with sharper direction would have been better .It is still an okay B Western and will please genre lovers