Buchanan Rides Alone is a 1958 American Western film directed by Budd Boetticher
and starring Randolph Scott, Craig Stevens, and Barry Kelley.
Based on the 1956 novel The Name's Buchanan by Jonas Ward,
the film is about a Texan returning home with enough money to start his own ranch.
When he stops in the crooked town of Agry, he is robbed and framed for murder.
Production
Although the screenplay is credited to Charles Lang, his script was deemed unsuitable,
so Boetticher asked his regular writer, Burt Kennedy, to rewrite the script.
Because Lang's wife was gravely ill and he needed the money,
Kennedy generously allowed him to take the salary and screen credit.
In a 2001 interview at the Cinecon Film Festival, Boetticher confirmed that the script
was Kennedy's work, noting that such lines as
"This sure is a $10 town." and "Don't just stand there, Amos, get a shovel!"
could only have been written by him.
A number of music score stock cues used in the production are the same
as those used in the 1958-1961 TV series Sea Hunt,
with stock music credits to Mischa Bakaleinikoff, George Duning, Heinz Roemheld,
and Paul Sawtell
User Review
About as good as it gets.
19 June 2009 | by alan-pratt (United Kingdom)
Display MoreHigh quality Boetticher western that succeeds on almost every front.
Scott is first class, less taciturn than usual and displaying a gift for wry humour not always evident in his performances.
The supporting cast is well above average and Barry Kelley, Tol Avery and Peter Whitney, in particular, are all excellent, playing their parts to near perfection.
The scenery, both in and out of the town is wonderfully evocative - cacti to die for! - the guitar music is hauntingly beautiful and the colours are bright and pleasing.
If I have a criticism at all, it is that the plot is a little too convoluted - too many twists and counter twists - but, in the face of so much that is good, this is but a minor quibble.
Incidentally, the only women in the production have such tiny roles, they are not even named in the cast list. So no-one "gets the girl" this time round!