Pun Salad

This is part of a box set of Westerns directed by the legendary Budd Boetticher. This one was a B-picture, released (according to IMDB) as a double feature with Hellcats of the Navy, which starred Ronald Reagan and his not-yet-wife Nancy. Cool!

Randolph Scott plays Pat Brennan, an affable rancher, trying to make a go of his new place after years of working for other people. But he finds himself in the middle of a stagecoach robbery that quickly turns into a kidnapping scheme, masterminded by Frank Usher (played by Richard Boone). The victim is Maureen O'Sullivan, who's married to weasely John Hubbard, in a performance that might have been the inspiration for the character of Hedley Lamarr in Blazing Saddles.

Both Boone and Scott have faces that seem to have been carved out of granite, and the movie touches ever so lightly on their shared bond of masculine honor. (It's a bond you can share even if you're a thief, kidnapper, and cold-blooded murderer. Go figure.)

The extras on the DVD are pretty good; there are a whole bunch of Hollywood vets willing to tell stories about Boetticher and provide insight into his filmmaking style: Robert Stack, Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdonovich, Taylor Hackford. And (in a bit of magical Hollyword weirdness) Clint Eastwood sitting next to Quentin Tarantino. Awesome.