Rating: **
Review Date: 1/8/14
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Pat Hingle, Alan Hale Jr.
After watching a handful of Sergio Leone westerns, this one comes across as overly bland, sickeningly sentimental, forcefully self righteous, and disappointingly cliché. Jed Cooper (Clint Eastwood) was just minding his own business when he was hung by a lynch mob and left for dead. He miraculously survives, and Judge Fenton (Pat Hingle) offers him a job as Marshall so that he can see justice served. Unfortunately, it's not much of a revenge flick, and it's overly long and talky. A clean shaven Eastwood cuts a mean figure, but doesn't pose much of a threat. There's also a pointless romantic interlude halfway into the movie that derails the plot and kills what little momentum the film had. The final insult is that the film ends with no climax, resolution, or closure, as Cooper leaves his woman behind and rides out of town to track down the remaining bad guys. Disappointing and dull.