Riley Wade hates his gunfighter father, Jacob, for deserting Riley's mother, who then committed suicide. Jacob rides to Red Bluff hoping to reconcile with his son, unaware that King Fisher holds a grudge and intends to shoot down Jacob, first chance.
Riley accompanies his father on the trail, after Jacob sets their family ranch ablaze, never letting him out of his sight. They go to the ranch where Jacob used to live with Ada Marshall, who takes them in, glad to see Jacob again. Jacob's sight, meantime, is fading; he is slowly going blind, a fact he hides from his son. Riley refuses to forgive his father until old friend Ben Ryerson explains to him that Jacob didn't desert his mother at all.
King comes to town with his men. Riley, aware for the first time of his father's failing vision, acts as his eyes in directing Jacob where to shoot. King's men die and he tries to sneak away, but he and Jacob end up in a showdown anyway and kill one another. Jacob dies in his son's arms.
In April 1955 Hedda Hopper reported the script by Harry Essex and Robert Smith had been sold to Paramount; she described it as an "off beat character study" and suggested Bing Crosby might play the lead.[4]
Filming started 2 April 1956. Anthony Perkins had made Friendly Persuasion and was being built into a star by Paramount. Assistant director Gene Nelson recalled "a lot of tension on the set. Everybody thought it was an important picture they were making. Most of the actors were from the method school but it was really Palance who was the macho act. He would go off and do push ups and run before every scene. People would stand around waiting for him to get ready and there was a lot of tension in the air."[5]
Reception
Variety called it "an offbeat western, more a character study of a gunfighter who tries to reform than an out-and-out action picture. Narrative carries certain interest and winds in a gun flourish when principal character is baited into one last battle."[6]Filmink said the film "expects us to believe Jack Palance and Tony Perkins are father and son, and that Perkins is a cowboy."[7]
