The Tall Stranger

I was expecting just a run of the mill fifties B Western but the film was quite entertaining for several reasons I will attempt to allude to.

1) Casting. Central character Ned Bannon (Joel McRea) is an ex Union soldier who becomes a sort of mediator between his hot-headed half-brother Hardy Bishop (Barry Kelley) who owns a big plot of land and a group of simple minded wagon train homesteaders on their way to a new settled life in California who stray onto Bishop's land after some bad advice from Mort Harper disregarding warnings given by Bannon himself.

2) Cinemascope colour photography makes this low budget film seem more upmarket as such.

3) Plenty of gunfights (and fist fights!) throughout the films typically short B running time keep the story ticking over nicely.

The film has its origins from a novel of the same name so has some good origins for its screenplay.

McRea himself endears his character to the audience like other notable 'Western' actors such as John Wayne and Randolph Scott.

Give this film a viewing, it's worth the time and a must for fans of the Western genre in particular.