Buchanan Rides Alone

_**A rare clunker from the Boetticher/Scott team**_ A mirthful gunman from West Texas (Randolph Scott) wanders into a border town in SoCal where feuding family members run the town (Barry Kelley, Tol Avery and Peter Whitney) and threaten to string him up for accessory to murder. Craig Stevens, Manuel Rojas and L.Q. Jones are also on hand. "Buchanan Rides Alone" (1958) is one of five Westerns from 1956-1960 written by Burt Kennedy, directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott. The others are: “7 Men from now,” “The Tall T,” “Ride Lonesome” and “Comanche Station.” Two additional films omit writer Kennedy from the equation: “Decision at Sundown” and “Westbound.” A little cult has formed around these Westerns and most are first-rate despite some not having the biggest budgets. I’ve seen four of ’em and like them all, except this one. It’s based on the first book of the Buchanan paperback series, started by Jonas Ward (aka William Ard) and continued by other authors after his death. Buchanan in print is a happy-go-lucky wanderer in the Old West with a tongue-and-cheek tone. The movie starts off entertaining enough with Scott jovial and confident in a decidedly unfriendly Southwestern town, but the second half devolves into tedious writing with absurd back-and-forth storytelling (he’s captured; he escapes; he’s captured; he escapes), not to mention at least one glaring plot hole in a life-or-death situation. Jennifer Holden is notable as the lone female, but little is done with her presence. This is a one-dimensional dude flick through and through. It’s not all bad. Like I said, the first half works well enough, there are some amusing scenes/lines, most of the cast is good, the music’s great, and the Arizona locations with saguaro cacti are fine. The bad writing sinks it, however. Kennedy wrote the script based on Ward’s book, but it was lost in translation. The film runs 1 hour, 19 minutes, and was shot in Old Tucson, Arizona, and wilderness parts nearby. GRADE: C-

I think there might have been a missing “n” from the name of the town when “Buchanan” (Randolph Scott) arrives in “Agry”. He has hardly had time to tie up his horse when he’s accosted by the sheriff “Lew” (Barry Kelley) who makes it clear that he isn’t very welcome. Quite happy to take the hint, he heads to the saloon for a steak and a drink whereupon he is accosted by another of the “Agry” family, the sheriff’s drunkard nephew “Roy” (William Leslie). Before that set-to can settle down a Mexican lad storms in and shoots “Roy” in the gut. Now the bar is owned by the fairly hapless “Amos” (Peter Whitney) and he and the town boss/judge “Simon” (Tol Avery) are also, yep you’ve guessed, “Agry” family members too, so when they decide that “Buchanan” might have been involved in the killing both look set for some summary justice. Fortunately, “Carbo” (Craig Stevens) points out that a trial of the killers could have added commercial value: the young man just happens to be the son of a wealthy landowner who might stump up $50k to save his son from the noose. A court is hastily convened and surprisingly the jury take a liking to “Buchanan” and he is released, but “Lew” isn’t a man to cross and so duplicity swiftly ensues and our charismatic hero is soon indebted to “Pecos” (LQ Jones) as he returns to town hoping to retrieve his poke, his gun, and to stop the “Agry” mob from stringing up “Juan” (Manuel Rojas). This is one of Scott’s better outings, I felt, and it certainly benefits from a solid suite of supporting talent and a quickly paced series of escapades that take us to a suitably fitting conclusion. The one question that seemed to be left unanswered was, though, just why did “Juan” shoot the odious “Roy” in the first place?