buchanan rides alone (budd boetticher, 1958)
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Another in a series of westerns made by director Budd Boetticher and star Randolph Scott. It's the third I've seen (the others being The Tall T and Ride Lonesome). All of them are solid efforts, made inexpensively but artistically. These films aren't just B-Westerns. Scott's presence is commanding, and Boetticher has a sure hand. The cinematographer is Lucien Ballard, who worked on many Peckinpah movies, including The Wild Bunch.
The films are nothing special, but perhaps that's part of their charm. They are concise (Buchanan Rides Alone is 80 minutes), and if you aren't watching an all-time classic, at least you're not sorry you've seen it. If this seems like faint praise, well, sometimes a movie like this is exactly what you need. And there's something to be said for low-budget genre pictures that don't disappoint, given how many of them do.
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