Águas Sangrentas

Once again Randolph Scott is after the guy who killed his betrothed, and when you learn the culprit was tall, blonde, blue-eyed and has a scar on his cheek and the cast includes George Macready you know what's coming...

That Macready plays the main villain indicates the calibre of the cast producer Harry Joe Brown has assembled for this moody tale of revenge by Luke Short. The rest of the production shows evidence of equal care, including the costumes, production design and photography by Fred Jackman Jr., all of which extract the maximum visual impact from Cinecolor's limited palate; notably during the almost expressionist final shootout.

When Randolph Scott was on your trail there was no one worse to have as an enemy in the old west. Proof of that is to be found in Coroner Creek one of the best westerns he ever did.

Scott's bride-to-be was among several passengers killed during a stage holdup, perpetrated by Indians, but led by a renegade white man played by George MacReady.

Armed with only a general description, Scott tracks him down to a town called Coroner Creek where the renegade is now has a veneer of respectability. No one knows of his past there. But he doesn't have a bunch of gun hands like Forrest Tucker and Douglas Fowley for nothing.

Coroner Creek is adapted from a western novel by Luke Short, but it bears a big resemblance to the larger budgeted James Stewart western, The Man From Laramie. Personally I think Coroner Creek is better even though it is a B western.

The highlight of the film is a nasty fight between Forrest Tucker and Randolph Scott. Tucker stomps on Scott's right hand, breaking his trigger finger. When Wallace Ford holds MacReady's men at gunpoint, Scott evens the score in a savage fight where Scott beats him even though he is only able to use his left hand. Scott then does the same thing to Tucker. You next see him sporting a left handed holster and he proves pretty adept with his left hand. The look on Randolph Scott's face as he tears into Tucker is unforgettable. He's more than a man, Scott is a force of nature in Coroner Creek.

In a career where he played a couple dozen villains, one of the meanest George MacReady ever played was in Coroner Creek. You will not easily forget MacReady, his veneer of sophistication hiding barbaric acts of unspeakable cruelty.

Coroner Creek is the finest introduction you could make concerning the films of Randolph Scott. You will be a fan after you see this.

Stalwart western hero Randolph Scott is at his stalwart best in "Coroner Creek" - and it wasn't directed by the overrated Budd Boetticher. Scott is a man of action as he attempts to avenge the killing of his fiancée at the hands of George MacReady in one of his most villainous roles. As mentioned, the emphasis is on action; the exasperating Boetticher often put one of Hollywood's best cowboy stars in complex psychological situations while forgoing Scott's long suit.

In "Coroner Creek", Scott is surrounded by three women who manage to slow down the story by their presence; Marguerite Chapman as a moralizing hotel owner, Sally Eilers as a widowed ranch owner, and Barbara Read as Macready's dipso wife. But the storyline is so good that you can overlook these interruptions and await his next confrontation with baddies. There are gunfights and fistfights enough to satisfy the most avid action fan, including a left-handed fist fight with Forrest Tucker (you'll have to watch it for more info). I liked this one enough to rate it an eight.

When I saw that British TV was screening an unfamiliar 1948 Randolph Scott Western, I assumed it would be one of his less exciting films in black and white - it's his later efforts that are usually shown. In the event, I was pleasantly surprised; it was shot in good quality colour that showed the outdoor scenery to advantage and the plot was better than in most contemporary Westerns (though not up to that of Red River, released the same year). Several of its features bring to mind later, better known, films.

Scott looks thinner than we are accustomed to see him, almost haggard, which suits him in the role of a driven man seeking vengeance for the death (and presumed rape) of his woman; this reminds one of Rancho Notorious and Scott's own Ride Lonesome. He has a very violent fist fight with Forrest Tucker (less weather-beaten than in later films), with the two men viciously stamping on each other's gun hands - a forerunner of James Stewart's fate in The Man from Laramie. And when Marguerite Chapman overcomes her religious scruples to come to the aid of her man, one thinks of Grace Kelly doing the same in High Noon.

George Macready makes a sinister villain and Edgar Buchanan is in his familiar role as a half-good, half-bad guy - and he doesn't growl as much as usual.

There are some unconvincing touches. When Scott rides into his enemy's town the citizens stare after him in a weak attempt to suggest that they sense that nemesis has arrived; this was better done by Burt Lancaster in Lawman and by Clint Eastwood in many of his films. Yet minutes later this supposedly sinister stranger is entrusted with driving a drunken, attractive woman home. And it's not giving anything away in a Western of this (or almost any) era to say that the villain gets what he deserves, but his precise way of dying is unrealistic.

On the other hand we are spared the sight common in Scott's later Westerns of an actor in his fifties (Scott was born in 1898) romancing someone half his age; indeed the love interest throughout is very low key, with the emphasis being on Macready's failed marriage.

All in all it's a good, enjoyable film to watch.

Out in the remote Southwest a stagecoach his held up by renegade Apache Indians led by a mysterious white man. All bar one of the passengers are killed, the other, a female, is taken as captive but takes her own life rather than suffer any more indignities. That woman was the fiancée of cowboy Chris Denning, who upon learning of the news vows revenge and goes in search of the mysterious leader. A search that takes him to the small town of Coroner Creek...

Coroner Creek doesn't mess about, it's a tough, no nonsense Oater that may have flecks of humour, and pretty gal familiarity's, but most assuredly thrives on its darkly revenge driven core. Directed by Ray Enright and starring genre supremo Randolph Scott as Denning, Coroner Creek is adapted by Kenneth Gamet from the novel written by Luke Short. Very much following the old biblical thematic of "an eye for an eye", Enright's film, produced by Harry Brown, boasts rousing fist fights, simmering sexual tensions and a riveting finale.

Scott is terrific, as he mostly always is in these genre pieces. Denning's sense of pain and hunger for revenge is perfectly brought home to the viewers by Scott, an actor who has the ability to express so much with darkened eyes and a down-turned mouth. And of course more crucially, Scott brings believability to his characters. You really wouldn't know he was 50 years of age whilst making this picture, such is the gusto he puts into the role. He's backed up by George Macready doing a solid line in scar faced villainy, the always enjoyable Wallace Ford as Denning's newly formed confidante Andy West, while Sally Eiles and Marguerite Chapman fill the important female roles with professional turns.

On the minor downside is the use of Cinecolor, a two colour process that fails to bring Fred Jackman's cinematography to life, whilst simultaneously giving the actors an odd looking sheen. DVD and TV viewers may find they have to tone down a couple of hues on this one to find a decent colour balance. Still it be a fine genre entry and one that is a must see for Randy Scott enthusiasts. 8/10