I think Clint Walker (or his agent) had thoughts of being the next John Wayne. This movie is very similar to "Hondo" 1953 which starred John Wayne. Stranger with a past shows up at a farmhouse occupied by a woman and her son, but the husband is missing. Stranger is attracted to woman and becomes a surrogate dad for the son.
The writing in this movie is not as good as in "Hondo", which had moments of pure poetry.
There's no romance between Walker and Mayo; Walker doesn't even try. Why, I don't know. Virginia Mayo is a beautiful woman though older than Walker. Walker does take his shirt off, which was probably required in his contract for every movie he ever made. Maybe she should have made a play for him. Other reviewers have said that it might have been unseemly for Walker & Mayo to have a romance, but Wayne got right down to business in "Hondo". He told that woman how she smelled and how he could find her in the dark. And that was before her husband died. Wayne didn't even have to take his shirt off.
Ironically, the charismatic bad guy played by Brian Keith, makes a very frank play for Mayo.
Finally, the Indians here are not given the depth of characterization they had in "Hondo". They're more like very bad weather.
The boy, is well played by Richard Eyer. Unlike most child actors, he's not annoying.
This could have been a much better movie. I've seen all the actors do better in other movies, and the director Gordon Douglas, though not a great director, has done better movies. Perhaps if Walker's part had been written with less politeness and more menace, it would have been a more interesting movie.
