It had a quality that made me want to watch it. Maybe the slowness of it was relaxing on a Saturday afternoon. The music was quite good, very unique. I see it was by Ramey Idriss, who was born in NYC and wrote the Woody Woodpecker Song. He was a musician in many orchestras and radio shows and film. He also wrote TV scripts. Interesting. I loved seeing Carl Smith and Marty Robbins attempt to act - Carl was much better than Marty. Lee Van Cleef always steals the show. But Jim Davis was the star, that's for sure. Not a bad movie.
I agree this film had many redeeming elements, even though it was critiqued as a 1 star movie on my network. Unfortunately, I saw only the last 45 minuets, so my opinion will necessarily be incomplete.
But from what I did see, the cinematography was really quite good, with its low angles and interesting techniques in some scenes, like when it framed the shadow of the Davis character instead of showing the character himself. And the sound track was very different too from your typical western. The use of guitar and even tympani drums to add tension was rather compelling. It created an off beat mood throughout.
The acting by most of the minor players was serviceable and the lead roles were well handled by Jim Davis, Arleen Whelan and Lee Van Cleef.
I thought the fight scene at the climax of the movie between Davis' character and Van Cleef's was well staged and very realistic.
You're making sense because if you'd give, for instance, The Deer Hunter four stars, then how can you give this movie 4 stars? Your rating is correct. Enjoyed reading your comments about this film, too. I'm sure we'll both be watching this movie again! See ya then!