Buchanan Rides Alone (1958)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Budd Boetticher

Writers:

Charles Lang (screenplay)
Jonas Ward (novel)
(more)

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:

Revenge | Mexican | Barroom Brawl | Jail | Ransom

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Duke Fishman	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Terry Frost	...	Jury foreman (uncredited)
Don C. Harvey	...	Lafe (uncredited)
Riley Hill	...	Juror (uncredited)
Barbara James	...	Nina (uncredited)
Roy Jenson	...	Hamp (uncredited)
James B. Leong	...	Gomez's Friend (uncredited)
Frank J. Scannell	...	Saloon Gambler (uncredited)
Al Wyatt	...	Ivy (uncredited)

Directed by
Budd Boetticher

Writing credits
Charles Lang		screenplay and
Burt Kennedy		uncredited
Jonas Ward		(novel "The Name's Buchanan")

Produced by
Harry Joe Brown	....	producer
Randolph Scott	....	associate producer

Cinematography by
Lucien Ballard		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Al Clark

Art Direction by
Robert F. Boyle		(as Robert Boyle)

Set Decoration by
Frank Tuttle		(as Frank A. Tuttle)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jerrold Bernstein	....	assistant director

Sound Department
John P. Livadary	....	recording supervisor (as John Livadary)
Jean G. Valentino	....	sound (as Jean Valentino)

Stunts
Al Wyatt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack N. Young	....	stunts (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Henri Jaffa	....	color consultant

Music Department
Mischa Bakaleinikoff	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
George Duning	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Heinz Roemheld	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Paul Sawtell	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
David Breen	....	assistant to producer

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation (presents)

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1958) (UK) (theatrical)
• Columbia Film-Verleih (1958) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Comet Video (????) (USA) (DVD)

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:

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

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: After the climactic gunfight, with bodies all over the place, Craig Stevens is heard saying to Peter Whitney, "Don't just stand there, Amos, go get a shovel." But one can clearly see Stevens say, "...go get a spade".

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)

Likeable, good-humoured B-movie

Perhaps the only really unjustified feature of this Western is the title. They should have kept the original, "The name's Buchanan" - a line which crops up sufficiently often in the first five minutes to verge on becoming a catchphrase for the title character. One thing Buchanan *doesn't* do is ride alone. For a cowboy hero - particularly one played by Randolph Scott! - he's an unusually cheerful and sociable type, who picks up friends and allies almost everywhere he goes. I don't believe I've ever seen Randolph Scott smile so much in all the rest of his films put together - and it has much the same shock value as a grin on the face of Leonard Nimoy.

But it's mainly the humour that sets this film apart from a hundred other unpretentious B-Westerns. The plot twists don't hurt, either. This slender piece bears as many stings in the tail as the final chapters of a Hercule Poirot mystery. Tables are turned by one side upon the other so often that it verges upon the ridiculous; a point milked to wry appreciation by the script. The other interesting point is that Buchanan himself has little influence over the course of events. He merely (albeit adroitly) rides the tide, as the bickering Agry brothers provide the main engine for the plot. This film is far less of a one-man star vehicle than many Westerns of its era. To a degree, it might even be suspected of spoofing the genre.

I spotted only one technical blooper: as the sheriff(?) leaves the jail after demanding the keys, the far side of the street, for one brief aberrant moment, appears to consist of red-brick houses with paned-glass windows! Young de la Vega's horse really is a beautiful animal, on the other hand - the beast fully bears out the script's claim that the de la Vega horses are some of the best-bred in the country. Judging by the stunts, it was also presumably a trained performer - I wonder what its 'day job' was? :-)

To summarise: a cheerful, swift-moving Western with a touch of dry humour that helps it to stand out among a host of other B-movies. If you've watched 'Unforgiven' too many times, until your guts feel like treacle - if you can't take one more coarse joke from 'Blazing Saddles' - then try 'Buchanan' for a breath of fresh air, and watch Randolph Scott for once in his life having fun!