By Lee Pfeiffer
The Warner Archive has reissued Paramount's out-of-print DVD of director Anthony Mann's 1957 Western The Tin Star. Henry Fonda stars as Morg Hickman, a ex-lawman-turned-bounty hunter who delivers the body of a wanted man to a small town's sheriff's office. He gets a hostile reaction from the local population because of his unsavory profession. Nevertheless, Morg has to stay around a few days in order to collect the $500 reward money from Sheriff Ben Owens (Anthony Perkins), a young greenhorn who has reluctantly accepted the position of lawman after his predecessor was murdered. Morg perceives the likable young man as nervous and easily manipulated by some of the more obnoxious men in town. Morg ends up boarding with a young widow, Nona Mayfield (Betsy Palmer), who is a bit of a social outcast because her son Kip (Michael Ray) is half Indian. Before long, Morg and Nona form a chaste but loving relationship and he finds himself not only acting as surrogate father to Kip but also a mentor to Ben Owens. When a beloved local citizen is murdered by two brothers (Lee Van Cleef, Peter Baldwin), a local firebrand, Bart Bogardus (Neville Brand), goes against the sheriff's wishes and organizes a posse that is out for blood. Determined to take the men alive and ensure they get a fair trial, Ben enlists Morg's assistance. Under Morg's guidance, the pair bring the brothers back to jail- only to find that Bogardus intends to lead a lynch party to the jail that night. Ben knows that this is the ultimate test of his ability to finally earn respect from the citizens of the town. But in order to gain that respect, he'll have to face down a heavily armed, drunken mob.
The Tin Star is a superior Western, filmed in B&W in VistaVision and bearing the hallmarks of any Anthony Mann film: intelligent script (by legendary Dudley Nichols) and fine, realistic performances from an excellent cast that also includes a wonderful turn by veteran supporting actor John McIntire. Like The Ox Bow Incident, which also starred Fonda, the movie goes beneath the standard action sequences found in horse operas of this period and delves in to the issues of racism, justice and the price that must often be paid for displaying personal courage.
The DVD boasts a crystal clear transfer but does not contain any extras.
Click here to order from the Warner Archive.