Zachary Scott is Ross Haney, an outlaw’s son who has plans to control the town of Soledad by controlling the water rights.
He steps right in the middle of a feud between ranchers “Chalk” Reynolds and Walt Payne.
And a hired gun named Doran is ready to take over should he succeed in eliminating both of them.
If Haney doesn’t take care of that task … well, Doran has other plans for removing his prime obstacles.
Carole Mathews is Sherry Vernon, who’s supposed to be marrying Doran, until Haney shows up.
Turns out Haney has more noble intentions than most of the other men in Soledad.
Review:
But quite frankly, this is a muddled mess with few redeeming qualities.
For instance, take the role of Scotty, the local hotel keeper. He owns what water rights Haney doesn’t, which could make him a rich man.
Instead, he agrees to turn those rights over to Haney for one dollar, just for the fun of watching the fireworks he’ll bring to Soledad.
Based on a Louis L’Amour story. Hopefully, it was a better read than the movie was a watch.
Directed by:
Frank McDonald
Cast:
Zachary Scott … Ross Haney
Carole Mathews … Sherry Vernon
Dick Foran … Doran
Barton MacLane … “Chalk” Reynolds
Charles Fredericks … Walt Payne
Rick Vallin … Robert Vernon
Lola Albright … May
Gordon Jones … Jack Voyle
Raymond Hatton … Scotty
Lee Van Cleef … Frank Emmett
Steve Darrell … Hull
James Alexander … Burt
Stanley Andrews … Marshal Garvey
Runtime: 71 min.
Memorable lines:
Tom: “Now that Vin’s dead, you’ll own all that land around Thousand Springs.”
Ross: “Land doesn’t do you much good if you’re six feet under it.”
Tom to Ross Haney: “It ain’t hard for evil to kill a town. Your dad and I proved that.”
Scotty: “I’ve had three friends my whole life — two guns and a horse.”
Dolan: “What do you know about a man named Ross Haney?”
Frank Emmett: “Nothing. Heard the name someplace; that’s all.”
Dolan: “He’s going around looking for you. Says you killed a friend of his.”
Frank: “I don’t know. I’ve killed lots of people’s friends.”
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