Coroner Creek (1948)

A fairly minor B-Western from the late ’40s, notable as one of the early Harry Joe Brown produced westerns starring Randolph Scott. Randolph Scott is seeking his revenge against the man who killed his fiancée during a stagecoach robbery. He arrives in the town of Coroner Creek to find that man as a respectable citizen by in charge of the town. In many ways the Randolph Scott character is similar to that in the Budd Boetticher films, but slightly more optimistic in that his successful revenge frees him.

Aspects of the film struck me as similar to “The Man From Laramie”, notably the hero joining up with a rival cattle rancher to help exert pressure on the villain, and the scene where the hero’s hand is broken to stop him gunfighting (not much is made of that later in the film though).

In general it’s reasonably watchable, but not especially memorable, and falls firmly in the category of what you’d expect from a Randolph Scott B-Western of that era.

Aside: The colour scheme looks slightly odd in places, with all of the women appearing to have bright orange lipstick.