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the audience applauded

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Absolutely Fantastic

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Tension at Table Rock is directed by Charles Marquis Warren and is adapted to screenplay by Winston Miller from the novel "Bitter Sage" written by Frank Gruber. It stars Richard Egan, Dorothy Malone, Cameron Mitchell, Billy Chapin, Royal Dano, Edward Andrews and John Dehner. Music is by Dimitri Tiomkin and Technicolor cinematography is by Joseph Biroc.Wes Tancred (Egan) is a weary gunslinger who is wandering the plains after having been accused of a cowardly killing. Assuming the name of John Bailey, he happens upon the "Bitter Sage" ranch and events there will lead him into the town of Table Rock. Where his future, perhaps damned by his past, will be determined.A good Oater full of the staples of 50s genre pieces, tension at Table Rock is nonetheless a worthy morsel for those keen of a Western diet. Pic picks up a number of thematic threads, such as the gunman trying to go straight, a lawman who has lost his bottle, and hero worship by way of surrogacy. Naturally there's a romantic angle, with Malone all bright eyed and perched in between Egan and Mitchell, but this is thankfully not over played.Standard action scenes are handled well by Warren, a man who knew his way around dusters of TV and cinema. Costuming and scenic photography is pleasing, while Egan (tortured square jawed machismo), Mitchell (tortured and scarred and awaiting machismo rebirth) and Dano (eleagant wise man) are in good credit with performances. Best of the support is Dehner, no surprise there, and Angie Dickinson and DeForest Kelly have minor but key roles to play.It's all tightly played out to the point that the derivative nature of the story is in no way a hindrance to the entertainment on offer. 7/10

Fugitive gunslinger is torn between fleeing a town or staying to help.The obvious comparison is Shane (1953). But whereas the result there rises to mythic heights, here the results are little more than pedestrian, and I'm not sure why. Certainly, director Warren's erratic pacing doesn't help—the dialog scenes, especially with Malone, bring things to a slumping stop. For a Western, that's deadly. Then too, wardrobe gussies up Malone (a fine actress, nonetheless) like it's Oscar night on the frontier, befitting her star-status, I guess. I really like the first half, especially DeSantis's hapless station agent. He brings a strong hint of soul to the part, something Egan, in the lead part, needs in order to broaden Tancred's conflicted character. Unfortunately, Egan never gets beyond a single stony expression (contrast that with Ladd's nicely nuanced Shane). Still, that opening is a real grabber. Too bad, we lose that fine villain Paul Richards (Sam) so early in the movie. Speaking of expert bad guys, the 90-minutes is filled with them, from the slippery Edward Andrews to the commanding John Dehner to the plain mean James Anderson, and even Star Trek's DeForrest Kelley makes a charming gunslinger. And that's along with affecting turns from Cameron Mitchell and the wonderful little Billy Chapin.The trouble is that once the focus comes to town, events lose the edge they've had. Nor does it help that the town is an obvious studio backlot (contrast that with Shane's desolate mudhole of a town). Anyway, there're a number of nice touches (Dickinson's treacherous Cathy, for one), but unfortunately these can't overcome the limitations of budget and pacing, resulting generally in an interesting but undistinguished 90-minutes.

RICHARD EGAN is the gunman who has killed his best friend and must live with the consequences of a town that has turned against him with a legendary song (by Dimitri Tiomkin) that paints him as a coward. He flees to another town and assumes a new identity, but his past catches up with him before the tale is over.As the scorned outlaw who decides to help weak-minded sheriff CAMERON MITCHELL keep order in a tough "Dodge City" sort of town, Egan is solidly cast as the sturdy anti-hero who rises to the occasion whenever gunfights break out. He wins the admiration of Mitchell's pretty wife, DOROTHY MALONE and their young son, BILLY CHAPIN (from "Night of the Hunter"). Therein, the story bears elements of "Shane" and other similar westerns.Egan's quiet underplaying of the conflicted gunman is effective and most of the performances are fine. Dorothy Malone looks out of place as a frontier lady, her make-up and costuming making her look like a modern 1950s woman rather than the good wife she was portraying.The dialogue is full of the usual western clichés. A line at the end of the film, after law and order has finally been restored by Egan, is a summary of the plot's conclusion. "These boys just got their town back," drawls one of the townsmen. And in time for the final reel, the sheriff gets his courage back too.

This superb '50s western is what I term a "minor masterpiece". By that I do not mean that it is inferior, rather that its "B" status will inevitably always relegate it to side discussions when the "big" westerns are brought up. But a very convincing argument can be made that this, and many other '50s "B" westerns-including in my view almost all of the Audie Murphy ones-are the absolute pinnacle of the genre.Other reviewers have given good accounts of the plot so I will instead mention: the marvellous cast (DeForrest Kelly was underused as a westerner-marvel at his performance); the tension that I think is due to the modest running time and the quick, simple scenes that just flow so naturally; great, bright colour (I loathe the dark modern movies); a second-to-none score from an age when there were great film composers; all the essential elements are here-the boy, the tortured hero, believable domestic tensions, the baddies-you just care about these characters.Every time this appears on British TV I seem to watch it afresh and discover more subtleties.Minor masterpieces are not that much more common than major ones. Do not miss this movie.