Stranger on the Run (1967)

Henry Fonda is Ben Chamberlain, a drunk who gets off a train in Banner to deliver a message to a woman who’s supposed to be in trouble.

Problem is, no one in Banner will tell Chamberlain where to find Alma Britten.

And when one finally points the way, Chamberlain finds her dead and is spotted by her body.

That’s all it takes for the railroad lawmen in this railroad town to declare Chamberlain a killer.

But when they catch him, lead railroad detective Vince McKay (Michael Parks) decides he can serve a better purpose than lynching.

His hired guns have been growing restless pining away the hours in Banner.

So he decides to send them on a hunt, for Chamberlain, giving him a horse and a head start, then sending his men off in pursuit.

Only Chamberlain proves more difficult to recapture than expected.

And he picks up some allies during the chase, including a group of cowboys who are enemies of the railroad and a middle-aged widow named Valverde Johnson (Anne Baxter).

That chase eventually leads right back to Banner.

Henry Fonda as Ben Chamberlain, spying a case of whiskey being unloaded off the train in Stranger on the Run (1967)

Dan Duryea as O.E. Hotchkiss, the aging railroad detective and McKay’s right-hand man in Stranger on the Run (1967)

Review:

Much better than average TV Western with veterans Fonda, Baxter and Dan Duryea as the primary reasons.

Fonda plays a man who blames himself for his late wife’s death and has given up on life. She was killed by a ricochet bullet fired by a hothead he refused to confront.

Baxter’s the lonely widow, worried because her son idolizes the railroad detectives, trying futilely to direct him to a less dangerous future.

And Duryea is the aging railroad detective, worried his skills are diminishing, determined to protect McKay from the killers he’s surrounded himself with.

He finds himself disturbed too by the turn in McKay, a railroad detective with ambitions, willing to sacrifice a drunken stranger to save the railroad’s reputation.

Because Alma’s trouble is that she was assaulted and beaten by one of McKay’s men. She’s determined to make the railroad pay. He’s just as determined to cover up the incident.

Anne Baxter as Valverde Johnson, a widow fearing her son will become a railroad deputy in Stranger on the Run (1967)

Michael Burns as Matt Johnson, trying to make his mother understand he doesn’t want to be a candy pusher in Stranger on the Run (1967)

Directed by:
Don Siegel

Cast:
Henry Fonda … Ben Chamberlain
Anne Baxter … Valverda Johnson
Michael Parks … Vince McKay
Dan Duryea … O.E. Hotchkiss
Sal Mineo … George Blaylock
Lloyd Bochner … Mr. Gorman
Michael Burns … Matt Johnson
Tom Reese … Leo Weed
Bernie Hamilton … Dickory
Zalman King … Larkin
Madlyn Rhue … Alma Britten
Walter Burke … Abraham Berk
Rodolfo Acosta … Mercurio
Goerge Dunn … Pilney
Pepe Hern … Manolo

Runtime: 97 min.

aka:
Bad Day at Banner

Theme song:
“Stranger on the Run” by Bill Anderson

Michael Parks as Vince McKay, a longtime railroad employee with bigger ambitions in Stranger on the Run (1967)

Lloyd Bochner as Mr. Gorman, the railroad man warning McKay to avoid scandal in Stranger on the Run (1967)

Memorable lines:

Ben Chamberlain, arriving in Banner: “You got more law than you got town.”

Mr. Gorman, railroad representative to Vince McKay, railroad detective, about the group of hired gunmen backing him: “If there’s any trouble, the kind that gets into a newspaper or a court of law, we had no idea such men were wearing company badges. And you’ll be finished.”

Ben Chamberlain: “What happened to her (Alma), Mr. Berk?”
Abraham Berk: “Alright, alright. What can happen to a girl like that? Men. She’s anybody’s cat. You make a lap, she’ll sit in it.”

Dickory: “Somebody ask you what you are, you say, ‘I’m a man.’ If there’s one thing I’ve found out, sooner or later, day’s gonna come when somebody else say, ‘Prove it.’ There ain’t no gettin’ around that.”
Ben Chamberlain: “What if my day’s come and gone.”
Dickory: “That just means you lucky, buddy. Cause you’ve got another shot at it.”

O.E. Hotchkiss: “Vinnie, you’re talking about killing a man.”
Vince McKay: “That’s right. You act like you never killed one before.”
Hotchkiss: “I never murdered one.”

Ben Chamberlain: “I was never so much about lying to myself.”
Valverde Johnson: “You’re not much at forgivin’ yourself either.”

Zalman King as Larkin, one of the railroad’s hired guns in Stranger on the Run (1967)

Tom Reese as Leo Weed, one of the railroad’s hired guns in Stranger on the Run (1967)

Madlyn Rhue as Alma Britten, beaten and determined to make the railroad pay in Stranger on the Run (1967)

Henry Fonda, remembering the role he played in his late wife’s death in Stranger on the Run (1967)