Buchanan Rides Alone (1958)

Texan Tom Buchanan is heading back home with enough money to start his own ranch, but when he stops in the crooked town of Agry, he's robbed and framed for murder.

Director:

Budd Boetticher

Writers:

Charles Lang (screenplay), Jonas Ward (novel)

Stars:

Randolph Scott, Craig Stevens, Barry Kelley

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Randolph Scott	...	Tom Buchanan
Craig Stevens	...	Abe Carbo
Barry Kelley	...	Lew Agry
Tol Avery	...	Judge Simon Agry
Peter Whitney	...	Amos Agry
Manuel Rojas	...	Juan de la Vega
L.Q. Jones	...	Pecos Hill
Robert Anderson	...	Waldo Peck
Joe De Santis	...	Esteban Gomez
William Leslie	...	Roy Agry
Jennifer Holden	...	K.T.
Nacho Galindo	...	Nacho

Storyline

On his way home to West Texas, Tom Buchanan rides into the Californian border town of Agry, and into a feud between several members of the Agry family. In helping out a Mexican seeking revenge on one of them, Buchanan finds himself against the whole family.

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Plot Keywords:

ranch | rancher | town | murder | california | 

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Taglines:

DOUBLE HANGING -- DOUBLE THRILLS! (original print ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Drama | Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Goofs

The story is supposed to be set in the California border town of Agry but the landscape is populated with the Sahauro cactus which only exist north of the Mexican border in the Sonoran Desert where it extends into Southern Arizona and the very distinctive jagged volcanic peaks of the Tucson Mountains are ever present in the background.

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Quotes

Waldo Peek: All right. Quiet, quiet, everybody! Your trial is about to start. Now Jim here is going to pass among you with a tray and the Judge wants me to have you put all your glasses in that tray... empty! The Judge don't want no more liquored-up opinion like he had in that last trial.

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Connections

Featured in Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That (2005)

User Reviews

Last of the ranown only slightly inferior to some others

Excellent and funny story of Agry-town, a place where everything costs ten dollars and a man can be hung for being on the right side of a fight -- but the wrong side of the law. Hypocrisy and the essential weakness of human nature are humorously juxtaposed with Scott and his friends' hardboiled masculine ethic. Only the ending is a disappointment -- rushed and somewhat confused. Lang's writing is good and very barbed but somewhat predictable as the famous Ranown cycle winds down with this film.

The Pacific Film Archive here in Berkeley CA has been showing these films for the last few years, and in 2000 I and my mother had the chance to meet the director, the very charming, funny, and intelligent Bud Boetticher, and also the people who are restoring these movies for Columbia. They're doing a wonderful job, and hopefully soon we'll all be able to enjoy restored, less yellowed prints of these classic films (especially the incredible "Seven Men from Now") on DVD. Put any pressure you can on Columbia, folks, let them know you want to see these films on DVD, because the restoration is already well underway -- we just need to let them know there's an audience out there!

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 August 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Name's Buchanan

Filming Locations:

Sabino Canyon, Tucson, Arizona, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Producers-Actors Corporation, Scott-Brown Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Columbia Color)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1