Review: The Tall T

Randolph Scott rides a stagecoach with newly married Maureen O’Sullivan and John Hubbard, and driven by Scott’s friend, Arthur Hunnicutt. The stagecoach gets held up by Richard Boone and his goons, including the rather cold-blooded gunslinger Henry Silva. It’s decided that O’Sullivan will be held for ransom, as her daddy is uber-rich. Hubbard, being a cowardly bastard, offers to go to O’Sullivan’s old man and get the ransom (i.e. Selling them out and saving his own arse). In the meantime, Scott and O’Sullivan try to stay alive, not easy with Silva itching to blow them both away. Boone, however, is less quick to the draw, and although a bad man, he admires Scott for standing up to him, and seems to prefer his company to his own thuggish cohorts.

 

Based on an Elmore Leonard (“Get Shorty”, “Jackie Brown”, “3:10 to Yuma”) story, this 1957 western comes from director Budd Boetticher (“Comanche Station”, “Ride Lonesome”) and veteran western screenwriter Burt Kennedy (“Hannie Caulder”, “Ride Lonesome”). The combination of notable names here (also including the cast) don’t actually add up to all that much of a film, and even Boetticher agrees that the title is terrible. The film itself is static and clichéd, but if they were given more screen-time to play it out, there’s definitely potential here in the relationship between Randolph Scott and Richard Boone, who steals the film. A trigger-happy Henry Silva (as a character named Chink, no less), dependable old Arthur Hunnicutt (a most underrated actor), and selfish wimp John Hubbard are also impressive. Hell, Maureen O’Sullivan is even OK (her character gets a rough going, referred to as ‘plain-looking’, which is a trifle unfair), and star Randolph Scott starts out a lot more relaxed than usual, before doing his more stoic deal. His best scenes are with Hunnicutt, who despite playing Scott’s elder, was actually a decade or so younger than the star. Acting certainly isn’t the problem here, and the cinematography by Charles Lawton (“Jubal”, “The Lady From Shanghai”) is fine too.

 

The pacing is all off, taking a good 15 minutes or so to start up, and more than 20 minutes for the villain to turn up. For a film that runs less than 85 minutes, that simply isn’t good enough. It’s not a bad film, just clichéd, slow, rather static, and a tad underdone in terms of plot. It feels like it’s missing just one plot element- a train robbery or some other kind of non-talky set piece to break things up a bit. Once Hubbard leaves the picture, the whole thing just seems to stay put, and it’s a shame Kennedy (best-known as the director of jokey westerns like “Support Your Local Sheriff!”) didn’t inject any humour into proceedings.

 

It’s still worth a look for the always impressive Richard Boone as more than your average western villain, and Henry Silva as an impressively cold-blooded henchman. Just don’t expect it to break the mould or anything.

 

Rating: C+