This 1957 western starts with the bleak image of a man walking into a remote farmhouse and shooting everybody inside. When the sheriff comes to get him, he surrenders because he ‘just did what any man would do.’ Learning that the people he shot were his wife and her family is just the first of many surprises sprung on you as the story unfolds. By the time you find out the wife is not only going to live, but will testify from her hospital bed about what really happened in the farmhouse, you’ll be sitting on the edge of your seat. Sterling Hayden gives a fantastic performance as the guy with the gun, able to seduce you in one scene and repulse you in the next. Anita Ekberg is equally good as the wife, even if she her long false eyelashes and perfectly manicured finger nails make her look a little out of place as a rancher’s wife.
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