1958 | Not Rated | 1h 20m | Drama, Western
I’ve always been a big fan of George Randolph Scott, more commonly known by his stage name, Randolph Scott. His career spanned more than three decades. And over those many years, he was able to mature into a fine actor, eventually showing off an incredibly diverse range. Although Scott was excellent in almost any genre of film he appeared in—from dramas and comedies to musicals and war films—he is most closely associated with the great American Western.
In fact, Scott’s final film was the superlative Western “Ride the High Country” in 1962. But he also starred in a lesser-known (although equally impressive) 1958 movie of the same ilk, titled “Buchanan Rides Alone.” It was based on the novel “The Name’s Buchanan” by American author Jonas Ward and was helmed by the great American director Budd Boetticher.
Scott stars as Tom Buchanan, a drifter who crosses the border from Mexico into the small, dust-strewn town of Agry, California. As Buchanan rides past the sheriff’s office, he is immediately ordered to dismount his horse by Sheriff Lew Agry (Barry Kelley), who tells one of his deputies to search the drifter’s saddlebags. During the search, the sheriff’s young ne'er-do-well nephew, Roy Agry (William Leslie), flies past them on his horse wearing bloody scratches on his face.
Finding no contraband, the sheriff menacingly tells Buchanan not to “linger” in town for too long. After the rude reception, Buchanan reserves a room at the Agry Town Hotel down a dusty street, managed by another Agry named Amos (Peter Whitney). Although Amos looks somewhat like Quasimodo and seems to possess the mental faculties of a dimwit, he’s a shrewd man who quickly surmises that Buchanan possesses more money than his raggedy appearance would suggest.
Buchanan walks across the street to yet another Agry establishment (see a pattern now?), a funky joint hilariously named the Agry Palace Saloon, where Roy is threatening the bartender to hand over a bottle of whiskey. Apparently, the older Agry men don’t want the young hothead to be drinking, so the bartender resists as best he can before Buchanan interrupts the commotion and knocks the latter out in self-defense after the lad turns on him.
When Roy comes to, he glowers with murderous intent at Buchanan, who is nonchalantly sitting in the saloon and grubbing down on a steak. Roy tells Buchanan that he’s going to kill him as soon as he’s done downing a bottle of whiskey. But the troublemaker doesn’t have to wait long for some action. Suddenly, young Mexican Juan de la Vega (Manuel Rojas) storms into the saloon and shoots Roy dead. It seems that the scratches on Roy’s face have something to do with the impromptu killing.
An Entertaining Western
Although this movie deals with some rather serious subject matter (an assumed rape and rushed lynching), it manages to remain buoyant and never falls into the doldrums that many Westerns in later decades did. On the contrary, there’s quite a bit of humor injected into many of the scenes—and not just through dialogue.Simply watching Amos Agry waddling his hefty, sweaty body around town while either eavesdropping or delivering some choice bit of strategically placed gossip to various parties had me laughing out loud. Watch Peter Whitney act out his character’s devious machinations and you can see why he was considered such an amazing character actor.
Randolph Scott was likewise excellent in his role and looks great for his 62 years at the time. His lanky frame rides high in his saddle and moves spryly around the troubled border town.
The film’s taut pacing moves the 120-minute running time along nicely. With all of the scheming, backstabbings, and plot twists going on, by its end, it seemed like I’d watched a much longer movie.
“Buchanan Rides Alone” is one of the more engaging films of Randolph Scott’s later career and a great watch, purely for its entertainment value—and for the shrewd watcher, clever subtexts of more serious issues.
