The Iron Sheriff (1957)

Director:

Sidney Salkow

Writer:

Seeleg Lester (written by)

Release Date:

April 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

From His Leather-Tough Skin To His Cold-Steel Guts He Was All Cast Iron - ...and then he began to crack!

Plot:

When the sheriff's son is placed on trial for murdering a stagecoach driver, the sheriff desperately searches for the real killer - and finds the trail leads back to his boy. |

Plot Keywords:

Stagecoach Robbery | Criminal Investigation | Chinese Laundry | South Dakota | Murder

Cast

Sterling Hayden	...	Sheriff Samuel 'Sam' Galt
Constance Ford	...	Claire
John Dehner	...	Roger Pollack
Kent Taylor	...	Phil Quincy
Darryl Hickman	...	Benjamin 'Benjie' Galt
Walter Sande	...	Marshal Ellison
Frank Ferguson	...	District Attorney Holloway
King Donovan	...	Leveret
Mort Mills	...	Range Detective Sutherland
Peter Miller	...	Jackson Gallagher
Kathleen Nolan	...	Kathi Walden (as Kathy Nolan)
I. Stanford Jolley	...	Eugene 'Gene' Walden
Will Wright	...	Judge
Ray Walker	...	Bilson
Robert Williams	...	Tilyou (as Bob Williams)

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Corriganville, Ray Corrigan Ranch, Simi Valley, California, USA

Company:

Grand Productions

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The 1891 silver dollar, around which much of the story revolves, looks nothing like an actual dollar, but more like an oversize Lincoln penny of the modern era.

Quotes:

Charley - Laundry Owner: Sheriff! Gone! All gone sheriff!
Sheriff Galt: What's all gone?
Charley - Laundry Owner: Money! Money all gone! Stolen!
Sheriff Galt: You kept your money in here?
[looks at wooden box]
Charley - Laundry Owner: Yes.
Sheriff Galt: How much was there?
Charley - Laundry Owner: All! Was going to save to go back to China, Sheriff. In back of ironing board. Nobody bothered. Broke in wash room last night. Just find empty box! Sheriff, no money left now... money from many years.
Sheriff Galt: Well, that's what we got banks for, Charlie.
Charley - Laundry Owner: [puzzled] What we got Sheriff for?

"Iron" Doesn't Mean Lifeless

Westerns were all over the screen both big and little in 1957. Maybe that's why Sterling Hayden looks terminally bored as the "iron" sheriff. Too bad, because the script keeps us guessing-- who really did kill the stage driver. (Stage drivers are always getting killed in Westerns, but, more importantly, no one in the movie much seems to care. Usually, they just amount to expendable story props. Nice to see some actual concern here.) Anyway, the screenplay (Seeleg Lester) shrewdly manages to stay one jump ahead of us in the guessing game.There's also real fire-power in the supporting cast. A lot of familiar faces of the time, from the always cranky Will Wright (the judge) to shabby aristocrat John Dehner (the kid's attorney) to professional hayseed Frank Ferguson (the other attorney), while even the young lovers manage not to cloy. In the crowd, there's even a Broadway actress, of all things, the formidable Constance Ford who mostly gets to stand around.

Okay, with these promising elements why did my rating service give the movie a one-and-a-half out of four, while I would give it a two. Well, there is Hayden who just can't seem to get interested in the story-line. I counted his changes of expression, but after an hour, stopped at two. Most of all, however, is director Sidney Salkow. He must have come cheap since there's little evidence he cares about building the suspense of the who-dunnit, or even getting the actors to move around when they speak their lines. It's sort of like a slow-motion result, always deadly for an action genre like the Western. Anyway, the movie was a payday for a lot of veteran performers, and a different kind of story-line, especially if you want to take up the cause of the lowly stage driver.