This is a great little movie, with everything from a double-flashback story line to the contemporary prologue and epilogue. Chuck Connors gives his best performance, as the hard-bitten buffalo hunter, whom abandoned his new bride (Kathryn Hays) to make a fortune for her. On his return, he is robbed by a band of thugs (Claude Akins, Bill Bixby and Paul Fix). They rob him, beat him, and brand him! Connors spends the rest of the film obtaining justice, both from the thugs and from the woman he left behind.
The real acting kudos in this movie belong to Kathryn Hays, Gloria Grahame, Claude Akins and, most of all, Bill Bixby. Kathryn Hays sweet face belies the rage she feels at having been abandoned by Connors. Gloria Grahame is the older, still beautiful woman who cannot accept that her mature beauty is not appreciated by ladies man, Bill Bixby. Claude Akins produces a truly original portrait, a SYMPATHETIC psychopathic, sadistic killer. But Bill Bixby is the real revelation, as the narcissistic, masochistic ladies man. Bixby's performance is dowright hypnotic. The ending would be more satisfying in a novel than a movie; but, this film is well worth seeing.
The real acting kudos in this movie belong to Kathryn Hays, Gloria Grahame, Claude Akins and, most of all, Bill Bixby. Kathryn Hays sweet face belies the rage she feels at having been abandoned by Connors. Gloria Grahame is the older, still beautiful woman who cannot accept that her mature beauty is not appreciated by ladies man, Bill Bixby. Claude Akins produces a truly original portrait, a SYMPATHETIC psychopathic, sadistic killer. But Bill Bixby is the real revelation, as the narcissistic, masochistic ladies man. Bixby's performance is dowright hypnotic. The ending would be more satisfying in a novel than a movie; but, this film is well worth seeing.