Buchanan Rides Alone

When many people think of classic teamings between director and star in westerns, John Ford and John Wayne come to mind and for good reason. The duo made a handful of classic westerns that make many top 10 lists of all-time best westerns. One duo though that's been overshadowed over the years and has recently become more respected and held in high regard was the teaming between Randolph Scott and director Budd Boetticher.

A veteran of Hollywood movies since the late 1920s, Scott made a decision in the last half of the 1940s to only make westerns the rest of his career. Many of the movies he would then make were average, many of them B-westerns that have long since been forgotten. But teaming with Boetticher, Scott made a string of what are now considered cult classic westerns, six movies that last year were packaged in a long overdue DVD box set. Check that, five of the movies are in the set, Seven Men from Now is available separately.

These westerns are really just B-movies when comparing them to other westerns of the time like The Searchers or Shane. None are longer than 80 minutes and all of them are content to tell a simple, straightforward story. The main character in each of them, Scott in all 6, typically has a checkered past in one way or another and has to redeem himself in some way. While Scott was one of the first anti-heroes, the bad guys walked that fine line between good and bad, often working with Scott's character all the while building to a showdown. They're good old-fashioned movies, much like John Wayne's westerns, where you can just sit back and enjoy.

Having seen five of the six Scott/Boetticher westerns, I was happy to see Buchanan Rides Alone, the one I haven't seen, on TCM's schedule last week. It took me awhile to sit down and watch it, but it was worth the wait to say I've seen all six. Scott plays Tom Buchanan, a former mercenary coming back from fighting in the Mexican Revolution. He's got a pocketful of cash and is ready to start his spread up in west Texas. On the ride home, he's stopped in a dusty California town of Agry and quickly finds himself in a mess of a situation.

The man in charge in town, Simon Agry (Tol Avery), runs everything from the shops to the newspaper to the saloon and for good measure, his brother Lew (Barry Kelley) is the sheriff. Scott is having a drink at the saloon when a vaquero, Juan de la Vegas (Manuel Rojas), enters and promptly shoots Roy Agry, Simon's hot-headed son. We learn later Roy hit and possibly abused Juan's girlfriend. The townspeople jump to conclusions and think Buchanan was tied up in the shooting. Just wanting to start his life over in Texas, Buchanan now must fight his way out of one more brewing shootout.

What's notable from many Boetticher westerns was the director's ability to cast rising stars in a supporting role. As good as Scott is in these movies, it's often these actors who steal the scenes they're in. What's missing from 'Buchanan' is that great supporting cast. L.Q. Jones definitely qualifies as Pecos, another west Texas cowboy who sides with Buchanan, a role perfectly suited to the likable, drawling character actor. But other than Jones, no one jumps out or makes much of an impression. Craig Stevens plays Carbo, apparently Simon's right-hand man but he's never really explained so I could be wrong.

I'll always prefer wide-open wilderness westerns that town-based westerns, but this one at least takes advantage of shooting in a town. Filmed in Old Tucson, maybe most recognizably known from Rio Bravo, Agry feels like a real western town instead of shooting on a backlot in Hollywood. But other things don't work, especially some attempts at humor with Amos Agry (Peter Whitney), the somewhat slow-witted Agry brother who is always frantically running around town bringing news of developments at the jail or the ranch.

The final shootout could have been a good one, but parts of it were just too ridiculous. A saddlebag holding $50,000 lies on a dusty bridge with the two opposite groups on either side. When cowboys go running after it, they do just that...run. For goodness sake, crouch down and make your way out there. Other than the showdown at the end, Boetticher doesn't have much action here, but at just 78 minutes, the movie's always moving along at a good pace so you shouldn't be bored.

So while not as good as Ride Lonesome or Seven Men From Now, Buchanan Rides Alone is still a worthy entry in the Scott/Boetticher pairing. If you're looking to see these movies, they're available as a set at Amazon or any number of vendors (I included the link earlier) or rent them through Netflix. They may not be as known or even respected as many other westerns from the 50s, but they deserve to be listed with the classics like The Searchers and Shane. Here's a trailer and a 9-minute interview with filmmaker Taylor Hackford about 'Buchanan.'