This fine Technicolor western was made by King Vidor immediately before his War and Peace, and features the wonderful Kirk Douglas in an all-grinning, all-snarling portrayal, the kind of role he was born to play. He sings and strums a banjo, too! There's a tremendous sexual tension generated between Douglas and manipulative ranch owner Jeanne Crain that's reminiscent of Vidor's other two steamy dramas, Duel in the Sun and Ruby Gentry. The psychological slant is also cleverly integrated, as juvenile William Campbell idolises the rascally Douglas. There's some welcome by-play from Stagecoach's Claire Trevor as the other woman and a particularly nasty but important barbed wire whipping sequence. Universal remade this poorly in 1969 as A Man Called Gannon.

A wandering cowboy gets caught up in a range war.