An outlaw named Tom Tanner (Forrest Tucker) is being taken to prison when he manages to escape at a stage station. During his get-away, he shakes the posse, but encounters a tenderfoot named Andrew Barclay (Randolph Scott) who says he was lost.
They eventually both wind up in the town of Twin Forks. Tanner plans to reclaims thousands in gold he stashed in the area two years earlier. But others know about that gold, too, including businessman Edward Galt, who would like it for his own.
Meanwhile, Barclay meets and gets help from Galt’s pretty daughter Karen, who runs her father’s ranch while he runs the town. She suspects he’s not the tenderfoot he pretends to be. He hops on a horse named Thunder and has no trouble riding him.
Eventually, Barclay tells her the truth. He’s an undercover marshal. Tanner was allowed to escape because the authorities knew that, once free, he’d lead the way to the stolen loot.
Now it’s just a matter of whether Barclay can hold Tanner’s confidence long enough to recover the money, and keep it out of the hands of Edward Galt and the gunmen who work for him.
Review:
Mediocre Randolph Scott Western that works best if you don’t think too much about the plot. Scott’s character starts romancing Karen Galt, though he knows her father is corrupt?
As for Edward Galt, he’s supposed to run the town and a ranch. Yet he’s desperate to get his hands on Tanner’s gold as well? And his two henchmen aren’t exactly the brightest hired guns you’ll find roaming the West.
Supposedly, Galt is obsessed with riches because the ex- wife who abandoned him and his daughter predicted he’d always be penniless.
The film does feature a nice final showdown between Tanner and Barclay, during a mine cave-in no less.
Directed by:
Gordon Douglas
Cast:
Randolph Scott … Andrew Barclay
Dorothy Malone … Karen Galt
Forrest Tucker … Tom Tanner
Frank Faylen … Jeff
George Macready … Edward Galt
Charles Kemper … Sheriff Merrick
Jeff Corey … Bart
Jock Mahoney … Sandy
Runtime: 82 min.
aka:
The Man from Nevada
Memorable lines:
Edward Galt: “Throw in with us, and you could be one of the richest men in town.”
Andrew Barclay: “Or in the cemetery.”
Bart: “Mr. Galt, why did you let him (Barclay) go?”
Edward Galt: “You learn more by watching a polecat than by keeping him caged up.”
Edward Galt, to his partner Bill: “No one has a better right to be cynical than I have. Look at me and my wife. When she walked out on me, she said you’ll end up cleaning spittoons, your daughter working in a dance hall. Well, I showed the old hag. But am I bitter? Oh, no. Not at all.”
Bill: “You’ve never been able to forget her for a minute.”
Galt: “I don’t even remember what she looks like.”
Bill: “Of course not. You’re just a lovable character who worships gold.”
Andrew Barclay, when they come upon the gold: “We can work easier with our guns off.”
Tom Tanner: “I can work fine with my gun on.”
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