Du sang dans le désert

1957 was a good year for movies and amongst all the strong contenders, The Tin Star still managed to get Oscar nominated for best original screenplay, by the same screenwriter that brought that real trail- blazing classic, Stagecoach, to life.

Anthony Mann's black & white Western isn't a long, sprawling John Ford epic, nor does it feature Ford's often comical characters but at a fairly concise 92 mins it feels like a real book - a story that's never hurried and which includes proper characterisation and dialogue. Those wanting John Wayne spitting into the dust and cowboys and Indians need look elsewhere...

I've always liked Henry Fonda - and whilst many have pointed out that Mann's main man had previously been James Stewart, Fonda takes that slim thoughtfulness that Stewart eschewed and added dignity as well as grit - maybe somewhere between a Wayne and Stewart mix. You can never take your eyes off Henry Fonda - tall, dark and brooding if there ever was one. Anthony Perkins is (of course) very different to Norman Bates in Psycho and for those of us who saw him in that long before this earlier work, will not be disappointed. Fonda plays the older, wiser but now turned to bounty hunter ex lawman, who helps out rookie sheriff Perkins, both strategically but morally, too, when an outlaw gang terrorise the town.

The near-silent ending is as tense as you'll find anywhere within any Western - and you will be both too - silent AND tense...

Radio Times gives Tin Star a rare five stars - and you won't see this undervalued and under-known western on TV very often. It does get onto Sky Movies Classics once in a while but I don't recall it ever being on terrestrial TV, at least recently, so the DVD does make good sense. If you like the western genre and not yet seen The Tin Star, you really should...

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.

This is a great black and white film directed by Anthony Mann who produced some great westerns. Henry Fonda plays the role as Morg Hickman who is a bounty hunter who brings his dead man into a small western town in order to collect this reward money in the amount of $500.00 dollars. The people in this town do not like bounty hunters and show a great deal of anger towards Morg, because they want their prisoners brought back alive and ready to stand trial. There is a newly appointed sheriff named Ben Owens, played by Anthony Perkins who has no experience in being a sheriff and his girlfriend is very much against his wearing a badge. Morg becomes friends with Ben and decides to teach him how to shoot a gun and all the experiences he had as a former sheriff. The town people do not want Morg to stay in their towns hotel and he has to find lodgings with a pretty young gal by the name of Kip Mayfield and her young son. This story has many twists and turns and is not like any other Western story. Great entertainment and outstanding acting by all the actors and Neville Brand, (Bart Bogardus) gave a great supporting role.

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.

...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.