The Tall T (1957) Reviews

• Randolph Scott's Finest Hour.

  jpdoherty2010-02-09

  Columbia Picture's THE TALL T is one of the great westerns of the fifties! It is also one of the best westerns Randolph Scott would appear in under the banner of "Ranown" his jointly owned production company which he headed with his partner Harry Joe Brown. Not only that but it is arguably the best of Scott's westerns to be directed by his favourite director and friend Budd Boetticher. Beautifully photographed in Technicolor by the great Charles Lawton Jr. it boasts a superb screenplay by Burt Kennedy which derived from a story by Elmore Leonard. This, together with Boetticher's masterful direction and the cast's adroit performances turned it into a taut and suspenseful drama located in a remote and engaging western setting. Scott is Pat Brennan making his way home to his ranch when the stagecoach he is on is held up by three desperate killers. A newly married woman on the coach (Maureen O'Sullivan) is taken hostage and held for a ransom from her affluent father. Her squeamish and cowardly new husband (John Hubbard) is killed along with the stage driver and Brennan and the woman are held until the ransom is paid and delivered. Eventually the opportunity comes about where Brennan sees the chance to thwart the gang's intentions and take them on in what is a well executed and action packed finale. The cast couldn't be better! Scott, of course, is his usual granite-faced self. With that terrific voice, easy going manner and a way at delivering a line with a wry smile that is altogether appealing. Richard Boone who always excelled as a baddie doesn't disappoint here. As Frank Usher the leader of the errant trio he is unsmiling, cool and calculating. He must have kept his part here in mind when ten years later he would play a similar type role in Paul Newman's "Hombre" as the gang leader with the cracker of a name... Cicero Grimes. Playing his partners in crime here are Skip Homeier as Billy Jack the childish, naive and gullible gunman and the brilliant Henry Silva as Chink the hardened killer with a creepy effeminate demeanor ("hey Frank I've never killed myself a woman yet - have I?"). Usher has little time for them both and even less respect as he confides in Brennan "I don't like them - the way they are, always talking the same words about women, drinkin' and such". Accusingly Brennan retorts "You run with them!". As the only female in the picture Maureen O'Sullivan gives a fine performance as the unattractive and somewhat drab hostage and Arthur Hunnicutt is splendid as Rintoon the ill-fated stage driver. Underlining this thriller of a western is the fine atmospheric score by Heinz Roemheld. Born 1n 1901 Roemheld had a voluminous output that would almost put Max Steiner to shame. During his lengthy career he either composed, conducted or arranged the music for almost 300 films. It is a wonder he was not better known. But he is remembered for his fine score in 1952 for the Kirk Douglas Warner picture "The Big Trees". Randolph Scott seemed to like his work as he had him score all of his Boetticher/Columbia films of which "Commanche Station" (1960) stands out. Heinz Roemheld died in 1985. THE TALL T is a fondly remembered western and new generations have discovered it. It had a great star in Randolph Scott who remains an enduring icon of the Hollywood western alongside Gary Cooper, Joel McCrea, James Stewart and of course John Wayne.

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• Tall T - stands for TENSION

  lwetzel2005-01-31

  **** I never really figured out what the Tall T exactly was. It doesn't matter. This is a great film and an outstanding western. The actors are all good, especially Randolph Scott as a western everyman (I always want to repeat the "Blazing Saddles" homage to Scott whenever I say his name)and Richard Boone as one of the most evil bad men in western film history. Skip Homeier and Henry Silva give great performances as two young guns who are teamed up with Boone. They are sexy and evil at once. The dialogue is biting, the situations are adult and dramatic, the scenery is superb, and the music complements the film's tension to a Tall T.

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• An unadorned, perfect western.

  guru_monk2005-09-03

  Movies like this are a lost art form. Simple, concise, they tell their stories without excess adornment. Its funny that as audience tastes have become progressively less refined movies have become more pretentious and obvious. If this movie was made today it would run nearly three hours with a turgid, Wagnerian musical score, and apocalyptic imagery. This film, on the other hand, is simplicity defined, and all the better for it. Its interesting to see the psychology of the characters; at one point Boone says that his cruel compatriots can't help the way they are, but it is more a way for his character to excuse his own actions away, as he secretly yearns for the kind of life Scott's character has--the difference being that Scott sticks to his own personal code, and Boone never even developed one. Little moments fill this movie and make it a fine Western: Scott sizing up a bull with an almost child-like look of joy on his face, Scott hitting his head on a stoop and Boone's unrestrained laughter. Best of all is the beautiful high desert imagery, another lost art being the art of properly filming in the desert without everything looking orange and shimmery. Maybe if modern Hollywood looked to its past rather than computers for salvation more people would go to their movies.

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• One of the best of the Ranowns

  funkyfry2002-11-05

  Excellent low budget western with an intelligent script (thanks to Kennedy), tight directing and good acting. It tells its short, stark tale of abduction, murder, and attempted escape very well. There was one moment early in the film where the way the camera moved just amazed me, but mostly there is nothing showy going on, just solid suspense and storytelling. Scott is not his usual later era persona of the experienced but emotionally barren gunfighter -- instead he's refreshingly old-fashioned as an old ranch hand intent on striking it out on his own in the West. First rate and very dark. 10 out of 10

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• Fulfilling meal of a movie

  rsyung2002-05-28

  There's nothing epic about this well-crafted, workman-like western, and that works in its favor. Randolph Scott is wonderful as the world-weary small-time rancher who's pursuing a better life at an age when most men in those days were either retired or dead. He meets his evil double in the guise of Richard Boone, who finds himself out of place with the heartless thugs he finds himself running with. It's his fate but he yearns for the life that Scott has chosen. Wonderful location work. Dialogue and action are used to service the story and that's all, as it should be. As fulfilling and satisfying a movie as a good serving of stew and a mug of hot coffee.

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