Excellent but underrated film

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This is representative of the sort of bread and butter fodder that Robert Mitchum, still being billed as Bob, worked his way through during his early apprenticeship at Republic before moving up the ladder and being taken on at RKO. The picture is absolutely no different from any of the multitude of oaters that lower rung studios like Republic churned out ceaselessly to fill the theatres lower half of a double bill. Man with a mysterious past? Check. Goofy sidekick? Check. Righteous sheriff who wants to keep the peace? Check. And on and on. Unless you're a fan of these programmers the only reason to catch this one is to observe the indefinable thing that is star quality. Robert Mitchum had it in spades. Whereas everyone else in the picture is adequate to passable Mitchum is already his fully formed laconic self, relaxed and charismatic like no else in the picture can even approach effortlessly pulling focus whenever the camera turns his way. He's the reason to watch this short shoot em up but once your curiosity is satisfied you'll never watch it again.