The Casting

The main roles are entirely miscast and the second tier guys are wasted in this plodding western.

Jack Palance and Anthony Perkins emote as if the Academy members were viewing the film. Palance is supposed to be the tough outlaw dad but he's way too young at 37 so he compensates by brooding and going into Shakespearian like trances before speaking. Perkins would do back to back Paramount westerns in 1957 and he doesn't look to comfortable here, playing the role in a manner that will become his MO, disturbed brooding youth. The character list is like a Hall of Fame listing but Neville Brand, Lee Van Cleef, Elisha Cook Jr, Claude Akins, John Doucette have very little to do and the villains are just not menacing enough. Only Robert Middleton and a white stallion come across effectively.