The Tin Star

It doesn't matter what the genre is, when the writing is great, then the film will usually be great also. This Oscar-nominated film had a superb script that made everything else look fantastic.

Henry Fonda is an ex-sheriff turned bounty hunter that appears in town to collect his reward. He has to wait until it comes, so he ends up befriending the town outcast - Betsy Palmer (before she became Jason's mom), a woman with a half-breed child, and helping the new Sheriff - Anthony Perkins, before he went Psycho and killed his mom.

Fonda gave a measured and stirring performance in a role that was supposed to go to Jimmy Stewart. In the process of helping others, he was able to find himself and turn his life around.

In a humorous scene old Doc McCord (John McIntire) had just delivered the 12th child to a farmer that lived in the sticks. It was 2:30 am and he leaned back to sleep in his carriage and told his horse to head home saying, "You probably know the way better than I do." Now, that is the kind of cruise control we don't have on our modern vehicles! A great film that shows how important writers are to the movies.

...and that's saying a lot when you consider that he was in Fort Apache, My Darling Clementine, and The Ox-Box Incident. But this western, directed by the always dependable Anthony Mann, is a good example of a good story told without a lot of smoke and mirrors. The acting is dead-on, enough to convey character and emotion, but not too much to cheapen or overwhelm the story.

Great performances by Fonda as the grizzled veteran lawman/bounty hunter, Tony Perkins as the green, inexperienced town sheriff, John McIntyre as the town's doctor, and Neville Brand as the town bully. It is thoughtful and powerful, and displays a sense of right and wrong that is strong and uncompromising.

Anthony Mann made this superlative western after completing the last of the Jimmy Stewart westerns, ("The Man from Laramie"), and before he made the Gary Cooper starring "Man of the West" and somehow it got lost along the way despite having been nominated for a BAFTA Best Film award. Instead of either Stewart or Cooper, Mann cast Henry Fonda as the laconic, decent bounty hunter who take a greenhorn young sheriff, (a beautifully cast Anthony Perkins), under his wing.

It's a very simple, traditional piece, shot in black and white by Loyal Griggs and dealing very much in black and white issues. It is a movie with straightforward heroes and villains, (Neville Brand is principal among the bad guys), a strong heroine, (Betsy Palmer), and even a sweet, likable kid, (Michael Ray). If it lacks the psychological undercurrents of other Mann westerns it more than makes up for it in good old-fashioned action and suspense and of all his westerns this may be the most underrated.

This is a great black and white film directed by Anthony Mann who produced some great westerns. Henry Fonda plays the role as Morg Hickman who is a bounty hunter who brings his dead man into a small western town in order to collect this reward money in the amount of $500.00 dollars. The people in this town do not like bounty hunters and show a great deal of anger towards Morg, because they want their prisoners brought back alive and ready to stand trial. There is a newly appointed sheriff named Ben Owens, played by Anthony Perkins who has no experience in being a sheriff and his girlfriend is very much against his wearing a badge. Morg becomes friends with Ben and decides to teach him how to shoot a gun and all the experiences he had as a former sheriff. The town people do not want Morg to stay in their towns hotel and he has to find lodgings with a pretty young gal by the name of Kip Mayfield and her young son. This story has many twists and turns and is not like any other Western story. Great entertainment and outstanding acting by all the actors and Neville Brand, (Bart Bogardus) gave a great supporting role.

This film is a classic. Henry Fonda as the lone bounty hunter,

Anthony Perkins as the tyro Sheriff. Fonda plays this one close to the chest, minimal dialog, maximum emotional effect. Only Jimmy Stewart underplays a western tough guy as well as Fonda.

We have all the necessary ingredients for a fine screenplay. We have greed, hate, violence, racism, ignorance, and just plain human decency all exposed on screen with an even pace to measure the morals meted out by Fonda's character as the plot unfolds.

You want both to be a character in this story and yet stay as far away from it as possible.

So it fails as a fairy tale, but succeeds in taking our souls for a walk outside our values and qualifies as a fine tale of human endeavor.

See this film, the western context only enhances the plot line.

I highly recommend it.