Buchanan Rides Alone (1958)

Director:

Budd Boetticher

Writers:

Charles Lang (screenplay)
Jonas Ward (novel)

Release Date:

1 August 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

DOUBLE HANGING -- DOUBLE THRILLS! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

On his way home to West Texas, Tom Buchanan rides into the Californian border town of Agry, and into a feud between several members of the Agry family...

Plot Keywords:

Interrupted Hanging | Small Town | Ransom | Texan | Revenge

Cast

Randolph Scott	...	Tom Buchanan
Craig Stevens	...	Abe Carbo
Barry Kelley	...	Lew Agry
Tol Avery	...	Judge Simon Agry
Peter Whitney	...	Amos Agry
Manuel Rojas	...	Juan de la Vega
L.Q. Jones	...	Pecos Hill
Robert Anderson	...	Waldo Peck
Joe De Santis	...	Esteban Gomez
William Leslie	...	Roy Agry
Jennifer Holden	...	K. T.
Nacho Galindo	...	Nacho

Also Known As:

The Name's Buchanan (USA)

Runtime:

78 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Columbia Color)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 | USA:Approved (MPAA rating: certificate #19031) | UK:U | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Old Tucson - 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, Arizona, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Quotes:

Pecos Hill: There ain't no place like West Texas.
Tom Buchanan: Then how come you're in California?
Pecos Hill: Oh, I fiddle-footed. This country is so dang big, a man just itches to move around it. One day I got tired of watching the sun go west and I just followed it on out here. But I ain't itchin' no more. Before long, I'll follow that sun right on back to where I come from.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That (2005) (TV)

A West Texan

The title "Buchanan Rides Alone" sounds like a comedy western. To some extent it is but not without serious undertones highlighted by the final scene where overt greed motivates all the characters to risk life and limb for a saddlebag full of money. The comedy partly stems from Burt Kennedy ("Support Your Local Sheriff!") having a hand in the script.

Talk about municipal corruption! The entire town of Agry (similar to Angry), California, is fueled by backstabbing and crookedness. It's brother against brother or Agry against Agry. The only loyalty shown in the entire movie comes from the gunslinger, Carbo (Peter Gunn's Craig Stevens), who stands behind his boss, Judge Simon Agry, all the way. There is also a loyalty to Texas shown by Pecos Hill played to perfection by L.Q. Jones. Pecos shoots his partner, Lafe (Don C. Harvey), rather than killing Tom Buchanan (Randolph Scott) as ordered for the simple reason that Tom is from West Texas.

The usually indomitable Scott walks through "Buchanan Rides Alone" as if he wasn't for sure what was going on. He even looks puzzled when about to be hanged by the neck until dead. This reminds the viewer of Humphrey Bogart in John Huston's "Beat the Devil," who hadn't a clue as to what type of movie Huston was having him walk through. So he played the role of Billy Dannreuther in a dead serious manner. The result made the farce even more farcical. Scott's reading of his lines in "Buchanan Rides Alone" adds to the hilarity, whether intentional or not.

The village idiot, Amos Agry (Peter Whitney), at times makes more sense than his two brothers, one the sheriff and one the judge. He's also not quite as greedy as the others. He's happy with mere pocket change.

Scott, trying to help his Mexican friends, ends up nearly dead. He's greedy too but is happy with just a small spread of his own. In the end he is satisfied to turn the town over to the winner of the family feud and ride away from it all.