Buchanan Rides Alone (1958)
A bit of an outlier from Boetticher compared to the other westerns in the Ranown cycle. The basic narrative structure is similar, but the tone is almost comedic at first. Scott is overly cheerful when he rides into town and we get the familiar setup with one family running everything in this town, but to a degree that is close to parody. But the biggest shift is how busy and crowded this film is. Usually we have Scott in a very desolate location with a very sparse cast of characters. The town is crowded, talkative, and full of small, overlapping schemes. Plenty of different conflict interests, corrupt people tripping on each other toes reaching for same goals using different means. Admittedly pretty entertaining, and the wide range of villainous characters elevated above the plot that got a little too busy for its own good. Still, I did miss some of that remote desolate minimalism that made me fall in love with Boetticher’s film language.
Rating: 3.5