Watch The Tall T For Free

Good concept, poorly executed.

Excellent adaptation.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

"The Tall T" is the second of seven Randolph Scott/Budd Boetticher collaborations. Like the others, this too is a terrific low budget "B" plus little western. It is enhanced by the casting of Richard Boone as the chief heavy.Pat Brennan (Scott) like many of Boetticher's heroes, is a loner. He lives alone on a small ranch tucked away in the countryside. On his way to buy a bull from ex-employer Tenvoorde (Robert Burton), he stops by a relay station to water his horse. He has a Neighborly chat with station agent Hank Parker (Fred Sherman) and his young son Jeff (Christopher Olsen). Later in town Brennan meets up with stage driver Ed Rintoon (Arthur Hunnicutt) who tells him that he has been hired to drive newlyweds Willard (John Hubbard) and Doretta Mims (Maureen O'Sullivan) to their honeymoon spot.Later at Tenvoorde's ranch, Brennan loses his horse in a bet with his former boss. He is then forced to walk to the main road to await Rintoon's stage in order to hitch a ride. The coach stops at the relay station and outlaws Frank Usher (Boone) and his two gunsels, Chink (Henry Silva) and Billy Jack (Skip Homier) emerge from the shadows. When Rintoon tries to resist, he is shot down by the trigger happy Chink. Brennan also learns of the fate of the station master and his son.Mims, who is a spineless whiner, tells Usher that Doretta is the daughter of the town rich man (whom we never see) and that he will pay a handsome ransom for her safe return. Mims "volunteers" to ride into town, with Billy Jack, to negotiate the ransom. Meanwhile, Brennan and Mrs. Mims remain behind as the gang's hostages where an attraction between the two develops.When Mims and Billy Jack return, Usher having no respect for the man, lets him go only to have Chink gun him down. Usher decides that he will go to town to pick up the ransom. Brennan convinces Chink and Billy Jack that Usher will make off with the loot. When Chink goes off in pursuit of Usher, Brennan sees his chance to escape and......................................Richard Boone plays another of Boetticher's sympathetic villains. His and Scott's character develop a sort of mutual respect for each other. Boone is clearly the leader leaving the dirty work to his henchmen. In fact, Boone reminds Scott that he spared Scott the same fate as the station master and his son. It's the "some things a man can't ride around" scenario that forces the final showdown. The gruesome demise of the station agent and his son happens off screen as is the that of one of the gunmen.Another little western classic.

This had both an excellent cast and was exciting from start to finish. I was curious about it when I saw it at #55 in my highly recommended copy of 'The Editors of American Cowboy Magazine's The Top 100 Western Movies of All Time'. Before I saw this, I had only seen a few of the Westerns Boetticher made with Randolph Scott; I had no other experience with the director. But this is marvelous--top-tier alongside the similarly great 'Buchanan Rides Alone'.I noticed in the comments section that others noted the short running time, and that there wasn't an ounce of fat on the film. They're right. The vast majority of filmmakers today could easily learn a thing or two from watching these fine collaborations. It was very weird for me, after seeing the gorgeous Maureen O'Sullivan star in the daringly sexually provocative pre-Code 'Tarzan and His Mate' be considered by her co-stars here, 23 years later, a very plain-looking old maid, and it was both bizarre (since when I have seen him in these 50's Westerns, he hasn't really been the romancing type) and awesome seeing Randolph Scott take a shining to her on her wedding night (to another man, lol!). Oh, to be alive and make films in that fine filmmaking era!

Recently saw this movie I think for the first time.In the 1950's Westerns I like to see Lee Van Cleef,Jack Elam,Lee Marvin,Claude Akins and other bad guys.None of them are in this movie but the cast gave good performance's making this film enjoyable.Richard Boone was a good heavy,even when calm I compared him to a volcano that might erupt at any time.Henry Silva's character was deserving of study,sometimes moody his outer person with it's calmness didn't give full indication of his violent ways.When appearing on The Untouchables TV show as "Little Charlie Sebastino" he seemed to be the same character only dressed in a suit.Along with that during this movie he seemed to remind of someone else.Maybe alone in this opinion but I feel Brando's character Rio from "One Eyed Jacks" may have been influenced by Silva's character in this movie at least some.This was a solid good Western all the way.

Randolph Scott is arguably at his peak in The Tall T. Close to sixty when the film was released, he is one of only a handful of leading men in Hollywood that could still parlay his looks up to that (by Hollywood standards) advanced age. Scott was blessed with good scripts in the Fifties. His films with director Budd Boetticher (such as Seven Men From Now and Buchanan Rides Alone) were heads above most of the oaters of that time.You will notice Scott as Pat Brennan begins the film as a very happy-go-lucky fellow, not a role Scott often did; in fact I can think of no other movie where he is such a likable sort. He loses a spur-of-the-moment bet early on, yet he remains cheerful despite that loss. But after the capture of the stagecoach on which he is a passenger by a serious gang of cutthroats, things take a decided turn for the worse. His fellow passengers (and hostages) are a pair of newlyweds. Even the dynamic between these two becomes interesting.In spite of the serious disadvantage Pat has, he presses his captors at all times, looking for opportunities to correct the situation. How he manages to work through his (their) plight is for you to observe. There is a scene of terrific violence in the closing moments, and Scott's remonstration to bystander Doretta (the newlywed, played well by Maureen O'Sullivan) is sage advice.The Tall T was filmed, like many Westerns, in the beautiful Alabama Hills just east of Mount Whitney. There is no other location like it, and I can usually, sometimes instantly, recognize that area from just a few frames of a film.Any Randolph Scott Western is worth viewing, this more so than most.Rating: Three stars