and a small role for Lee Van Cleef, practicing his villainy for later spaghetti western roles. Also the implausibly Barbie-proportioned Karen Steele (better known for the "Mudd's Women" episode of Star Trek) as a young widow along for the ride. Like all good B-movies, the film begins at a run, with Randolph Scott's Ben Brigade creeping up through some very picturesque giant rocks towards a young cowboy who is sitting calmly by his horse and campfire, drinking coffee, and apparently expecting him. When they meet, the young man ("Billy John") reveals that he's got tired of being pursued by Brigade so they're going to "have it out" now. Brigade draws, but a bullet bounces off the ground nearby and Billy John reveals that his boys are hiding in the rocks around. But this doesn't phase Brigade, who fully intends to bring Billy John in to Santa Cruz to hang for shooting a man in the back.
Billy John relents and tells the boys to go off and tell his brother (Lee Van Cleef) what's happened, so that he can bring more men to rescue him. Brigade (a man of few words) handcuffs Billy John, sets him on his horse, and off they go. First stop is a staging post, but something's not right. Turns out the man who should be manning it has gone off to round up some livestock, and two men that Brigade knows to be outlaws, Sam Boone and Whit (Coburn). Turns out they showed up after the man set out, and, as his wife, Mrs. Lane (Steele) demonstrates, when she comes out with a rifle, they're not especially welcome.
But just then, the stage appears on the horizon. However, when it arrives, it crashes, because the driver is dead with a spear through his chest (pretty gnarly for 1959). The injuns show up and the chief wants to barter a horse for Mrs. Lane, whom he's been watching. Brigade says to play along, and that at no point must she act offended or scared because that'll spook the chief. She agrees, but when she sees the horse (which has a saddle on it) she wails and turns and runs. Of course it's her husband's horse. Anyway, the injuns head off, so the little party all sets out to outrun them towards Santa Cruz.
At that point it's our little group bickering (Boone wants to be the one to turn in Billy John because he read on a poster that the reward includes amnesty and he's tired of running and has a farm picked out to settle down on (in partnership with Whit), and tells Brigade that he'll kill Brigade if he insists on being the one to turn Billy John in), but sticking together for fear of first the injuns, and second, Billy John's brother and his gang. But as Boone quickly works out, Brigade doesn't actually seems scared of the brother, and indeed seems to be dawdling in apparent hope that the brother will catch up? What's the deal? Well, it turns out that Brigade isn't really interested in Billy John - he and the brother have beef. How many of our gang will survive? Are Boone and Whit actually good guys (Boone foils Billy John's escape attempt when he holds a rifle on Brigade, thus saving Brigade instead of having his main rival handily removed from the picture)? Or is Boone going to force himself on Mrs. Lane? Will anyone make it to Santa Cruz? Will Boone get his farm? Well, it won't take you long to find out, because this is a lean hour-and-a-quarter long. It would have made a good episode of one of the thousands of TV Western series (Boone (Pernell Roberts) was actually in Bonanza), if it weren't for the high production values, amazing scenery, and Randolph Scott. It would also have made a fine inclusion in the Western Noir series we enjoyed on the Criterion Channel - except that the ending... well, let's just say it's both what you want and what you find a little disappointing.
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