Águas Sangrentas

Director Enright is an unknown to me but he does a competent directing job in CORONER CREEK. Photography is above average, dialogue sharp, action believable and well edited, and the cherry on the cake is Randy Scott's performance, possibly his finest after RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, SEVEN MEN FROM NOW and RIDE LONESOME.

First class performances too from slightly deranged, wholly evil, top villain George Macready, laughing heavy Forrest Tucker and doting daddy Edgar Buchanan.

Great punch-up between Scott and Tucker, with head butts and revenge thrown in all in the same bout. Unfortunately, Scott delivers the first heavy punch with the damaged hand and only feels the pain with the second punch, thereafter he uses the other hand. That goof aside, it is a credible and well staged sequence.

CORONER CREEK is one of the most unassuming yet gripping Westerns I have ever watched. 8/10.

"Coroner Creek" is a Randolph Scott film that combines two typical western themes--revenge and the evil power-grabbing boss. It begins with a stage coach being attacked by Indians. However, these Indians are only working for the evil unknown white man. During this attack, the folks on the coach were murdered and one of them is Chris Danning's fiancé. Scott plays Chris Danning--a man determined to exact justice. After a montage showing Chris going town to town looking for a blond man with a scar, his trail leads to Coroner Creek---and to an evil boss-man named Younger Miles (George Macready). But, like a typical western baddie, Miles has hired a bunch of thugs (including Forrest Tucker and Joe Sawyer) and Chris is going to have to go through all this guys before his ultimate showdown with Younger. In the process, will Chris be able to hold on to his humanity? As I mentioned in the summary, this film, though reminiscent of other movies, handles it all very well. Scott managed to make it all seem very realistic and was at his best here. Well worth seeing.

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.

With his square-jawed determination, Scott (Danning) makes a riveting screen presence. So, by golly, he's going to get whoever is responsible for his fiancé's death and nothing's going to stand in his way. Not even the comely Chapman (Kate) or the Big Guy in the Sky. But he's got a tough bunch to deal with, especially blond bruiser Tucker (Ernie), who would rather grind hands than seeds. That fist-fight with Danning may be a stretch, but it's sure imaginative. Then there's that arch baddie Macready (Miles) and veteran sneer merchant Douglas Fowley (Stew). So Danning's got his work cut out for him.

You gotta love those red rock Sedona AZ locations. They turn up in so many horse operas of the time. Speaking of turning up and lending color—yes indeed, there he is, old gravel- voiced grouch Edgar Buchanan as the sheriff. No western of the day worth its salt was without his particular brand of character color. And, guys, there's not just the usual one good-looking woman in the movie. There're three, so which one will Scott end up with.

Can't help noticing that Harry Joe Brown produced this film along with Scott's later The Tall T (1957). Then too, the plot here is similar to many of the Scott-Buddy Boetticher classics of a decade later. But then, Scott was so good at grim determination, it's hard not to make him a revenge-seeker. Anyway, better than most six-gun directors, Enright knows where to put the camera, helping to make this one of Scott's more memorable westerns that even non-fans may enjoy.