Du sang dans le désert

When the experienced bounty-hunter and former sheriff Morg Hickman (Henry Fonda) arrives in a town to claim his bounty for killing a wanted outlaw, he meets the rookie temporary sheriff Ben Owens (Anthony Perkins). Hickman befriends the boy Kip (Michel Ray) and is lodged by his widow mother Nona Mayfield (Betsy Palmer) at home. Meanwhile, Ben asks Hickman to teach him to be a sheriff since he wants to be assigned by the residents to the position. Ben faces a problem with the scum troublemaker Bart Bogardus (Neville Brand) and when a prominent dweller is murdered by two criminals, Bogardus organizes a posse to hunt them down. But Ben has decided to capture the killers alive and give a fair trial to them.

"The Tin Star" is a great western directed by Antony Mann, with the 52 year-old Henry Fonda in excellent shape and Anthony Perkins in one of his first features. The bitter Hickman has a sad past that has certainly affected his behavior, and Anthony Perkins is perfect in the role of the insecure Ben Owens. The happy ending is a counterpoint to "Shane" that has similar situation of a stranger involved with a boy and a widow. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Homem dos Olhos Frios" ("The Man of the Cold Eyes")

Note: On 03 February 2025, I saw this film again.

Directed by Anthony Mann, The Tin Star is quite a remarkable Western that revisits a classic pattern of the genre though deviating from it a bit by introducing some new models. It features superb performance from Henry Fonda as an experienced ex-sheriff Morg Hickman who recently lost his wife and only child and travels to a small town where the newly appointed young and ambitious sheriff Ben Owens (Anthony Perkins) faces quite a strong opposition from much older and tougher Bogardus who has a shot at occupying his post.

The two of them soon become friends and Morg starts to give a valuable help to the young man passing him his vast experience in practicing sheriff's job. Meanwhile Morg finds a place to live at home of a widow Nora Mayfield (Betsy Palmer) who lives with her young son and is treated like outcast among the town's population, especially Bogardus and his gang because of her previous marriage to an Indian. Promptly they develop quite a deep attachment for each other primarily based on their similar nature of being quite different from the other people surrounding them and the bonding fact that both of them suffered a deep personal loses of husband in Nora's case and wife and son in Morg's.

The confrontation between the two parties ensues when one of the town folks is attacked and killed by a couple of unknown men and the next day the same fate riches the most respectable and loved Dr. McCord (John McIntire) whose entering the town on a carriage at the day of his birthday scene is probably one of the most remarkable in the Western's history. The town's people join Bogardus and form the party to find and lynch the murderers while young sheriff Ben wants to capture bandits alive and give them a fair trial and is joined in this undertaking by Morg.

The Tin Star is undoubtedly a very important Western featuring some of the most memorable and heart-warming moments of the genre's history and a wonderful performance from Henry Fonda. 8/10.

Anthony Mann made this superlative western after completing the last of the Jimmy Stewart westerns, ("The Man from Laramie"), and before he made the Gary Cooper starring "Man of the West" and somehow it got lost along the way despite having been nominated for a BAFTA Best Film award. Instead of either Stewart or Cooper, Mann cast Henry Fonda as the laconic, decent bounty hunter who take a greenhorn young sheriff, (a beautifully cast Anthony Perkins), under his wing.

It's a very simple, traditional piece, shot in black and white by Loyal Griggs and dealing very much in black and white issues. It is a movie with straightforward heroes and villains, (Neville Brand is principal among the bad guys), a strong heroine, (Betsy Palmer), and even a sweet, likable kid, (Michael Ray). If it lacks the psychological undercurrents of other Mann westerns it more than makes up for it in good old-fashioned action and suspense and of all his westerns this may be the most underrated.

It doesn't matter what the genre is, when the writing is great, then the film will usually be great also. This Oscar-nominated film had a superb script that made everything else look fantastic.

Henry Fonda is an ex-sheriff turned bounty hunter that appears in town to collect his reward. He has to wait until it comes, so he ends up befriending the town outcast - Betsy Palmer (before she became Jason's mom), a woman with a half-breed child, and helping the new Sheriff - Anthony Perkins, before he went Psycho and killed his mom.

Fonda gave a measured and stirring performance in a role that was supposed to go to Jimmy Stewart. In the process of helping others, he was able to find himself and turn his life around.

In a humorous scene old Doc McCord (John McIntire) had just delivered the 12th child to a farmer that lived in the sticks. It was 2:30 am and he leaned back to sleep in his carriage and told his horse to head home saying, "You probably know the way better than I do." Now, that is the kind of cruise control we don't have on our modern vehicles! A great film that shows how important writers are to the movies.

...and that's saying a lot when you consider that he was in Fort Apache, My Darling Clementine, and The Ox-Box Incident. But this western, directed by the always dependable Anthony Mann, is a good example of a good story told without a lot of smoke and mirrors. The acting is dead-on, enough to convey character and emotion, but not too much to cheapen or overwhelm the story.

Great performances by Fonda as the grizzled veteran lawman/bounty hunter, Tony Perkins as the green, inexperienced town sheriff, John McIntyre as the town's doctor, and Neville Brand as the town bully. It is thoughtful and powerful, and displays a sense of right and wrong that is strong and uncompromising.