"The Tall T" is the second of seven Randolph Scott/Budd Boetticher collaborations. Like the others, this too is a terrific low budget "B" plus little western. It is enhanced by the casting of Richard Boone as the chief heavy.Pat Brennan (Scott) like many of Boetticher's heroes, is a loner. He lives alone on a small ranch tucked away in the countryside. On his way to buy a bull from ex-employer Tenvoorde (Robert Burton), he stops by a relay station to water his horse. He has a Neighborly chat with station agent Hank Parker (Fred Sherman) and his young son Jeff (Christopher Olsen). Later in town Brennan meets up with stage driver Ed Rintoon (Arthur Hunnicutt) who tells him that he has been hired to drive newlyweds Willard (John Hubbard) and Doretta Mims (Maureen O'Sullivan) to their honeymoon spot.Later at Tenvoorde's ranch, Brennan loses his horse in a bet with his former boss. He is then forced to walk to the main road to await Rintoon's stage in order to hitch a ride. The coach stops at the relay station and outlaws Frank Usher (Boone) and his two gunsels, Chink (Henry Silva) and Billy Jack (Skip Homier) emerge from the shadows. When Rintoon tries to resist, he is shot down by the trigger happy Chink. Brennan also learns of the fate of the station master and his son.Mims, who is a spineless whiner, tells Usher that Doretta is the daughter of the town rich man (whom we never see) and that he will pay a handsome ransom for her safe return. Mims "volunteers" to ride into town, with Billy Jack, to negotiate the ransom. Meanwhile, Brennan and Mrs. Mims remain behind as the gang's hostages where an attraction between the two develops.When Mims and Billy Jack return, Usher having no respect for the man, lets him go only to have Chink gun him down. Usher decides that he will go to town to pick up the ransom. Brennan convinces Chink and Billy Jack that Usher will make off with the loot. When Chink goes off in pursuit of Usher, Brennan sees his chance to escape and......................................Richard Boone plays another of Boetticher's sympathetic villains. His and Scott's character develop a sort of mutual respect for each other. Boone is clearly the leader leaving the dirty work to his henchmen. In fact, Boone reminds Scott that he spared Scott the same fate as the station master and his son. It's the "some things a man can't ride around" scenario that forces the final showdown. The gruesome demise of the station agent and his son happens off screen as is the that of one of the gunmen.Another little western classic.

There seems to be an aura of reverence for the Boetticher/Scott Western collaborations by any number of fans, but each time I see one I come away with the impression that I just watched a fairly competent movie but nothing really special. Ditto here with "The Tall T", I liked it well enough but it doesn't break new ground for the genre. What impressed me were the little things, like the mules instead of horses pulling the stagecoach in the early going; that was different. And the description of Randolph Scott's horse, it was a claybank; I never heard that one before. The term was used a couple of times, once by the young kid Jeff when he saw Pat Brennan (Scott) riding toward the way station, and later on by Rintoon (Arthur Hunnicutt) asking Brennan where his claybank was. It sounded cool, but I couldn't figure out what made it a claybank, it looked like a fairly average looking horse to me.So Brennan finds himself in a desperate situation against an outlaw bunch headed by Frank Usher (Richard Boone). The other two desperadoes were kind of interesting, a cocky murderer by the name of Chink, admirably portrayed by Henry Silva, and a somewhat less than self confident gunman played by Skip Homeier. The dynamic here involves the seed of distrust Brennan plants with Chink when Usher takes off to secure a ransom demand from the wealthy father of a newlywed passenger (Maureen O'Sullivan) on the stage they just held up. Then Brennan conjures up a scenario for the kid intimating that the new widow Mims (Maureen O'Sullivan) might be open to a tryst with her husband put away by the bad guys.The way Brennan takes out these two is convincing enough, but when Usher returns, I didn't quite understand why Brennan just didn't ambush him from the get-go. He had the time to set up for it, but instead allowed the competition to be met on fairer terms. From an earlier conversation between the two men, it was pretty transparent where this one was going, so I guess a more climactic showdown was called for. Personally, I would have taken the safer route.One thing about Scott though, his character never loses his cool, even after learning about the station agent and his son in the well. You could tell he was seething but circumstances didn't warrant getting killed over it. You have to admire the man's supreme confidence and positive outlook on life, especially when it's all over and he confidently assures Doretta - "Come on now. It's gonna be a nice day".

Can't recommend this movie, although it starts out pleasantly, with some fun horsing around and conversations. Richard Boone does make a forceful, charismatic, if none too smart, leader of his little bandit gang of 3. Arthur Hunnicutt, as usual, does make a charismatic laid back hillbilly, during the brief time he's in the story. But most everyone of the main characters, except Randy(as Brennan) seems incredibly stupid, pathologically murderous and/or weak and cowardly. Even Brennan does a stupid thing in losing his horse in a bet out on the range, thus forcing him to walk many miles home, resulting in his encounters with the remainder of the sorry main characters.The wealthy heiress-to-be newly wed Doretta(Maureen O'Sullivan) is not so plain to my eyes that she need have grabbed the first gold digger who came along in handsome Mims. I don't know how old Doretta was supposed to be, but Maureen was nearly 50, thus we can't expect her to be too fresh faced. However, as Randy was only a decade older, she does make for a more credible possible romantic partner for Randy than the younger women who usually played the leading lady in his prior films.It appears that this is Doretta's first marriage, thus presumably, she has spent her life as big daddy's spoiled daughter: not the most appealing nor spirited damsel for Scott to rescue. Her new husband, Mims, is revealed as an incredibly cowardly dim wit in telling the bandits that his bride's father is very wealthy, hence they might as well demand a big ransom for the bride's release!(hoping this will redeem himself in the eyes of the bandits and thus spare him from their murderous inclination).Why didn't the bandits just hold up the stage in some lonely spot instead of killing the way station manager and his small boy, and throwing their bodies down the well, of all places?! Now, they will be hunted down as brutal murderers, not just highwaymen. The bandits should have demanded that the ransom money be brought to them, or that they, as a group, meet somewhere else to exchange money for hostage. By spitting up between guarding the hostages(Doretta and Brennan) and going for the money, they weakened their strength in both endeavors and risked the suspicion that the one going for the money might run off with it all. Even more unbelievable, Billy Jack, the now lone guardian of the two hostages, is talked into trying to rape Doretta, by an unbound Brennan!! Chink supposedly hears the shot that killed Billy Jack, even though he should have been miles away by then, to check on Frank and the money! And, if Frank had not taken an unexplained liking to Brennan, sparing him as a potential savior of Doretta, we wouldn't have any story at all! Yes, this little murderous bandit gang is even more dim witted than the unrealistically suggestion-prone Hammond brothers, in Randy's last film: "Ride the High Country"I like the several other Boetticher-directed westerns starring Randy I've seen better than this implausible tale. It could also use a more telling title.

The Tall TThis Budd Boetthicher/Randolph Scott project is overrated. I'll admit it's watchable and certainly has merit, but at the end of the day it's a middling movie riddled with faults. As usual, I'll start with some positives:I'm a big Richard Boone fan and this no doubt one of his better parts. He's plays Frank Usher, the heavy, who is conflicted over his outlaw status and is especially unhappy with his lack of intelligent, honorable companionship.The plot pretty much makes sense from beginning to end, which is saying a lot for this type of movie. It moves along pretty well and maintains a good level of dramatic tension.Henry Silva is quite effective as "Chink", the outlaw band's stock crazy gunman. He played a similar kind of character a year later in "The Law And Jake Wade".The presence of Skip Homeir is interesting. He was the heavy in "The Gunfighter" five years earlier.Randolph Scott, as usual, is modestly effective as the leading man.This was shot almost entirely on location. There are very few sound stage scenes.Willard Mims, the cowardly bounder, is well characterized and the part is well acted by John Hubbard.Here's some of the things that kept this movie from being better:In the opening scene, great pains are taken to deeply characterize a man and little boy who run a remote stagecoach station. Later in the day - about 15 minutes of move time later - they are brutally gunned down and their both their bodies are dumped in a well right in front of the station. Fortunately, this happens off camera. Nonetheless, this is extremely grisly and out of sync with the tone of the rest of the movie.Scott's Pat Brennan is the hero, but starts out the movie by riding 30 miles from his ranch to a place where he loses his horse in a foolish bet, forcing him to walk home. Is this the clever guy we are counting on to outwit the outlaw gang?Also, about that bet. Wouldn't his former boss have allowed him to ride the horse he lost home, and return later with two horse? Or loan him a horse? The guy is trying to get Pat to come back to work for him. Why make him walk home 30 miles carrying a saddle?Attempts to make Pat Brennan seem like a super nice, friendly and easy going fellow fall very flat.The story is supposed to be set in New Mexico or Arizona and is clearly filmed in California.There's no way Pat Brennan would have allowed Frank Usher to mount his horse in the final scene. Every cowboy in the universe carries a rifle on his horse. Also, he would have not allowed Usher to walk away. He had murdered the little boy and man at the station, as well as his "buddy" the stagecoach driver. Pat didn't have to kill him to stop him, just shoot him in the leg.There is very little attempt at comic relief.No Indians, no Mexicans, no civil war references, some of the things I like to see referenced in Westerns.The ending is too abrupt. I guess the "guy got the girl" in the end, but this feels contrived.