A Man Alone (1955)

A moody and cynical 50s Western with an interesting story. Ray Millard (who also directs it) plays noted gunfighter Wes Steele, who happens on the aftermath of a bloody stagecoach robbery on the way into town. He immediately, but accidentally, gets into a gunfight with the stand-in Sheriff and the real stagecoach robbers—the respected local bankers—use this as an opportunity to pin the robbery on him. He takes refuge in the house of the Sheriff (who's suffering from yellow fever) and his daughter, hoping to clear himself and expose what has actually happened.

Much of this is very good. The film is very atmospheric, especially the opening in a sandstorm. Of the three main characters, two are excellent. The hero is based on the classic western cliché of the gunfighter who wants to quit, but is made interesting by his conflicted motivations for staying even when clear escape routes exist (partly romance, partly desire to see just justice done, partly lack of faith that any other town will be better). The somewhat corrupt Sheriff (Ward Bond) is incapacitated for much of the film, and clearly isn't entirely bad—he's shocked at the violence of the robbery, even while he's in cahoots with the perpetrators—but at the same time is hardly a model character and his conflict is evident too. The Sheriff's daughter (Mary Murphy) did annoy me though, and in my mind is the weak-point of the film. There really isn't much too the character except the 50s(?) cliché of the girl whose father won't let her grow up. She's fairly pointless, except as a love interest, and is really far too young for the hero too.

Hardy's Western Encyclopedia emphasises the cynicism of the film (and rates it quite highly). I'm not sure the cynicism is actually the key message. I think it's more a story about morally compromised characters trying (eventually) to do the right thing. It's well worth watching but not an outright classic, mainly due to the weak female character.

The version I saw on TV was watchable, but clearly not from a great print (quite blurry and faded). This probably represents the current state of it.