The Tin Star (1957)

Henry Fonda plays Morg Hickman, a bounty hunter and former sheriff, who rides into a town to deliver a bounty-hunted body and finds himself embroiled in helping to teach the young sheriff of the town (Anthony Perkins). The town’s distrust of bounty hunters at the start of the film felt a bit forced and over the top. A few parts later in the film were obvious a mile off - the doctor getting killed on the day before his 75th birthday, the boy accidentally finding the outlaws - however I didn’t see this as a weakness: they’re the sort of things that you’re supposed to know is coming.

I suspect this is one of Anthony Mann’s weaker westerns, certainly less good than the 5 with James Stewart, and Man of the West. Mostly that’s because Hickman’s character is less interesting than the main characters in the other films: he’s mostly just doing his job, albeit slightly unwilling. That having been said, Henry Fonda is pretty much universally good in Westerns. As a connoisseur of spaghetti westerns it’s always good to see Lee Van Cleef. He was in his typical 50s role as a generic villain, but had a bit more to do than usual. In general, a very well made westerns, and very enjoyable to watch, but not one of the classics.

The UK DVD looks pretty good, and is probably identical to any other DVD version.