Bounty hunter Morg Hickman (Henry Fonda) turned his back on a career as a lawman when the town he served turned its back on him.
He blames them for the death of his wife and child because they wouldn’t help him pay for a move to a more suitable climate.
But when he rides into a small town with a temporary sheriff, he finds new purpose.
This temporary sheriff (Anthony Perkins) is quite young and in need of some tutoring if he’s going to survive.
Sheriff Ben Owens faces plenty of tests. There’s a bully named Bogardus who wants his badge for a shooting license.
Someone has been holding up the local stage. And now someone has killed the town’s beloved doctor (John McIntire).
The two people Hickman boards with — a half-breed child named Kip who’s scorned by most of the town and his widowed mom Nona — could use a helping hand too.
Hickman has to overcome prejudice as well. This town frowns on bounty hunters, preferring lawman who bring their prey back alive.
Henry Fonda as Morg Hickman, the lawman turned bounty hunter who takes Ben Owens under his wife in The Tin Star (1957)
Anthony Perkins as Ben Owens, a young man determined to prove he can handle a sheriff’s badge in The Tin Star (1957)
Review:
Director Anthony Mann serves up an intelligent, well-done Western. As Fonda’s character finds new purpose, Perkins’ tin-star wearing temporary sheriff comes of age.
This marked the fourth film for Perkins, who had already appeared in two Westerns — “Friendly Persuasion” and “The Lonely Man.”
McIntire has a great part as the town doctor and dispenser of wisdom. One of his primary goals is convincing Sheriff Owens and pretty young Millie Parker they belong together.
Well, Owens needs no convincing. But Millie, daughter of the former sheriff, isn’t eager to be tied to a man with such a dangerous occupation.
One of the film’s most striking scenes has the doctor’s buggy arriving in town for his 75th birthday celebration. The crowd sings “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” until the song fades as they realize the buggy is carrying the doctor’s dead body.
The villains of the piece are familiar faces, too — Neville Brand as Bogardus and Lee Van Cleef as one of the stagecoach-robbing McGaffey brothers.
This marked the only Western film for Betsy Palmer, best known for her role in Friday the 13th (1980).
John McIntire as Doc McCord, checking out a shotgun guard who’s beyond help in The Tin Star (1957)
Neville Brand as Bart Bogardes, the man constantly trying to stir up trouble for new Sheriff Ben Owens in The Tin Star (1957)
Directed by:
Anthony Mann
Cast:
Henry Fonda … Morg Hickman
Anthony Perkins … Sheriff Ben Owens
Betsy Palmer … Nona Mayfield
Michel Ray … Kip Mayfield
Neville Brand … Bart Bogardus
John McIntire … Doc McCord
Lee Van Cleef … Ed McGaffey
Peter Baldwin … Zeke McGaffey
Mary Webster … Millie Parker
Richard Shannon … Buck Henderson
James Bell … Judge Thatcher
Howard Petrie … Mayor Harvey King
Russell Simpson … Clem Hall
Hal K. Dawson … Andy Miller
Jack Kenney … Sam Hodges
Runtime: 93 min.
Betsy Palmer as Nona Mayfield, the woman who offers Morg Hickman a place to stay when he’s ostracized by the rest of town in The Tin Star (1957)
Michel Ray as the half-breed boy Kip Mayfield, who finds a father figure when Morg Hickman comes to town in The Tin Star (1957)
Memorable lines:
Morg Hickman: “You don’t like outlaws brought in dead?”
Townsman: “Our officers of the law bring in their prisoners alive.”
Hickman: “Your officer of the law didn’t bring in Jameson at all.”
Morg Hickman, about Bogardus wanting to be sheriff: “He wanted it for a shooting license, huh?”
Temporary Sheriff Owens: “That’s how come he didn’t get it. Town don’t want prisoners brought in dead.”
Hickman: “Yeah, I know, they only want sheriffs brought in dead.”
Morg Hickman: “When you grow up hating them (Indians), you don’t get rid of it easy.”
Millie Parker: “I know. They say the only good Indian is a dead Indian. When they find one with a man’s pride and courage to stand up as an equal, they kill him. And it isn’t called murder. They just made him a good Indian. And it doesn’t even end there. Not when there’s a boy to hate and a woman to take it out on.”
Sheriff Owens: “I’m only temporary (sheriff).”
Hickman: “You’re more temporary than you think.”
Lee Van Cleef as Ed McGaffey, wondering how to deal with a man who knows of his guilt as a killer in The Tin Star (1957)
Mary Webster as Millie Parker, the young woman who tries to force Ben Owens to choose between her and his badge in The Tin Star (1957)
Henry Fonda as Morg Hickman, Betsy Palmer as Nona Mayfield and Michel Ray as her son Kip in The Tin Star (1957)
Howard Petrie as Mayor Harvey King, trying to convince bounty man Morg Hickman to leave town as soon as possible in The Tin Star (1957)
Lee Van Cleef as Ed McGaffey and Peter Baldwin as his brother Zeke, watching a lynch mob assemble in The Tin Star (1957)
Anthony Perkins as Sheriff Ben Owens and Henry Fonda as Morg Hickman, closing in on two killers in The Tin Star (1957)
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