A good remake candidate?

Funny you should mention it as a remake because as poster noted that it is remake (re-imaging as it might be called) of gangster High Sierra. To be honest, I found the Western version to be flat compared to earlier gangster/pre-Noir High Sierra.

1) Joel McCrea was a good sturdy actor who often seems stiff in his roles. (Think Denzel Washington without the drama talent. Denzel does come across stiff if the material does not match the talent.) Joel's best movies were with Preston Sturges as Joel was a straight man with all the bizarre dialogue and supporting players providing the comedy.

2) High Sierra really does stand out because it place in gangster/noir history. Before High Sierra most good gangster movies had hero as an over-ambtious gangsters who shoots their way to te top. (Think Scarface.) In High Sierra, the gangster is more of a street level operator with conflicting emotions towards his profession. Although not a noir film as it pre-dates the genre and uses mostly outdoor locations), it does a great job of developing a new direction of the gangster genre. However, there is no noir film writer that does not look at High Sierra as an essential pre-Noir film.

3) This is really one of the best Bogart performances (would be fifth on my list) and was essential to his career. If you review his roles in 1939 & 1940, you have to wonder how in the heck he would make his great movies in the forties. Without High Sierra who knows if Bogie makes it as a star as he was forty and sick of Warner Brothers.

4) Also the success of High Sierra made John Huston a good director candidate and the next film was Maltese Falcon. The rest is history.

5) Virgina Mayo is fine actress and is great as eye candy/icy blond in White Heat. Here she does not compare to the performance of Ida Lupino who career was taking off as well.

6) High Sierra sub-plot really does a good job of tapping into the depression with family moving to California. Although it is not Grapes Of Wrath material, the audience really can feel the depression impact on the average American in High Sierra. In Colorado Territory, the family is your average family looking to make it out West.