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George Montgomery starred in several interesting westerns in a career that spanned several decades. This film, scripted by co-star Leo Gordon, was a very interesting change of pace for both.

Montgomery plays a one-eyed lawman, who once loved the woman now married to the character played by Leo Gordon. Gordon and Montgomery interact with great chemistry, varying between friendship and jealousy.

Leo Gordon was one of the great western villains and a pretty decent writer of scripts. In this film, he steals the show ---- playing a more sympathetic and well-rounded sort of cowpoke.

Not a great film, but western fans will like this one.

Star George Montgomery produced this film from a script by cast member Leo Gordon. This is one grim western abut a one eyed marshal whose name is not Rooster Cogburn.

Montgomery who used to be on the other side of the law and is now a strict law and order marshal not popular with all the elements in the town. He gets a visit from Leo Gordon and Diane Brewster husband and wife who eahc have history with Montgomery.

Our villain is Sebastian Cabot with cheesy cajun French accent who has Gordon killed with a bad gun during a jailbreak because he's hoping to find Gordon's stolen loot Montgomery's reputation suffers as public opinion sours on him.

The final piece is young Tom Pittman, ne'er do well orphan kid who is the one you'll remember from Black Patch. Pittman gives a truly sensitive performance as a mixed up kid being used for nefarious purposes.

A western with some most adult themes.

Black Patch is a routine western notable for being the first film scored by Jerry Goldsmith, a composer who would go on to some very great things indeed: Planet Of The Apes, Papillon, Chinatown, The Omen, Alien, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, L.A. Confidential and hundreds more. Naturally, Black Patch doesn't sound anything like those works, but Goldsmith's characteristic voice is unmistakable, if not yet fully formed.

Despite only being in his late twenties, Goldsmith wrote music that indicated a fledgling dramatic sensitivity and intelligence that would blossom into the hallmarks of his career. So, for the composer at least, it was a good start musically even if the film itself was modest.

This felt like the studio got a pretty good first draft of a script in their hands and decided to make a low budget western out of it without much thinking. There were a lot of factors about this film that showed it could have worked great but the direction was lacking throughout the movie to build up any of the aspects that were actually working. Even though it is from the late 50s Hollywood it feels early 40s at best. There are a lot of backstories established but the characters are not given time to show the effect of it. Other characters are suddenly thrust upon without proper development. The acting feels somewhat restricted. Even with all of these problems, there was some genuineness in the writing that could have saved the film. But the film ends abruptly just before the anti-climax that was being built up throughout the second half of the film. It felt almost like they ran out of the given budget and decided to wrap it up at that point.

Well, maybe I am wrong, this little western is not totally a waste, just a predictable plot, already seen dozens of times before. Two former friends from the civil war, one sheriff and one outlaw, love the same woman.... But this is an Allan H Miner's western, a B production, and any B western - and I don't mean the Roy Rogers or Allan Rocky Lane flicks - is worth watching. This one is truly agreeable, but not a masterpiece, as also was THE RIDE BACK, also from the director. And it is written by Leo Gordon, who also plays in the film. If you have one hour and twenty minutes to waste, go for it.