The sole highlight of this 1951 western is the scene where escaped convict Glenn Ford wrestles with a bedridden 72 year old Ethel Barrymore in an effort to prise a revolver out of her arthritic hands. If it wasn't for the fact that no less than five writers contributed to the crafting of this particular piece of business I'd be tempted to say that you just can't write this kind of stuff.
Barrymore's performance as Granny is a hoot because she makes almost no concessions to the part. Presented with dialogue that had already been trotted out in a hundred low budget westerns, she delivers it with exactly the amount of disdain it deserves.Really the only effort she makes is to speak in a silly old-cowboy-lady voice which is how one would expect a grand lady of the theater who's never stooped to watching westerns to play the part.
Barrymore apart there's little else to distinguish this movie other than to wonder exactly what is was that Ford, Barrymore, Gene Tierney and Zachary Scott had done to so upset 20th Century Fox boss Darryl Zanuck that he ordered them all to appear in this B-movie.
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