Highly watchable Western from a Donald Hamilton novel about confrontation between cattlemen and homesteaders . The picture gets action Western , shootouts , wonderful outdoors and is quite entertaining . It deals with a Union ex-soldier named John Parrish (Glenn Ford) schemes to sell up to Anchor Ranch and move east with his fiancée , but the low price offered by a wealthy rancher makes him think again . Glenn Ford/Parrish is the brave ex-officer , he is fighting to stifle the conflicts between homesteaders and cattleman who hire gunfighters (Richard Jaeckel). When one of his hands is killed he decides to stay and fight, utilising his war experience. The unscrupulous owner named Lew Wilkison (Edward G Robinson in conflict with good folk of the valley and plans rules over the lands . Not all is well at Anchor with the owner's wife carrying on with his brother (Brian Keith) who anyway has a Mexican moll (Lita Milan) in town . Meanwhile Parrish develops a loving triangle between his fiancée (May Wynn) and a good girl (Dianne Foster)
Enjoyable Western packs drama , thrills , go riding and some moving action sequences . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians, production values and pleasing results . Good performances from Glenn Ford as obstinate war veteran , Edward Robinson as a crippled owner and Barbara Stanwick as his wife . 'Edward G. Robinson' may seem oddly cast in a western, but he was a rush replacement for 'Broderick Crawford' who early on in shooting fell off his horse and was injured ; Robinson would later appear in the western Cheyenne Autumn , this time replacing the ill Spencer Tracy who had to bail out. Large plethora of secondaries , many of them uncredited as Jack Kelly , Willis Bouchey , Peter Hansen and Richard Farnsworth . Colorful and glimmer cinematography by two great directors of photography W. Howard Greene and Burnett Guffey , filmed on spectacular Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, and Tucson, Arizona . Sensitive as well as evocative musical score by classical Max Steiner.
The motion picture was directed in sure visual eye by Rudolph Mate . Polish-born Mate was an assistant cameraman for Alexander Korda and later worked throughout Europe with noted cameraman Karl Freund , director Carl Theodor Dreyer and Erich Pommer . Dreyer was so impressed with his work that they hired him as cinematographer on The Passion of Joan of Arc . Mate was soon working on some of Europe's most prestigious films, cementing his reputation as one of the continent's premier cinematographers. Hollywood came calling in 1935, and Mate shot films there for the next 12 years before turning to directing in 1947. Unfortunately, while many of his directorial efforts were visually impressive ,especially his sci-fi When the worlds collide (1951) , his labour as cameraman was excellent . He realized a variety films of all kind of genres as Adventures : The Black Shield of Falworth , Seven Seas to Calais , Western : Three Violent People , The far horizons , Noir films : Union Station , Second chance .He also directed Epic films as The Barbarians and The 300 Espartans . The films themselves were for the most part undistinguished, with his best work probably being the film-noir classic DOA (1950). ¨Violent men¨ rating , : Better than average , 7. Well worth watching .
