There's a scene in the film where Randolph Scott tries to tame a dangerous bull carrying with him no other possession that a candy bar. This works as an accurate metaphor for the cinema of Bud Boetticher and this film in particular, undoubtedly his best one. In `The Tall T' the forms essayed and executed by Boetticher in his task of reinventing the Western genre reach perfection. Everything is a triumph, from the script to the acting and especially through the coexistence of two levels of narrative permanently in tension with each other the lineal and the psychological one. Boetticher is more than a very intelligent craftsman; he's a director who can transform a basic chat between two cowboys into a philosophical discussion about ethics. If this picture stands out among the other westerns of the Ranown cycle is maybe because of the bad guy played by Richard Boone, one of the most celebrated heavies in the history of cinema.
Review of The Tall T
