Elegantly-mounted redeployment of some hoary old Western cliches stolen from better movies like Last Train from Gun Hill (1959) and 3:10 to Yuma (1957) but which fails to add anything much that is new of its own. There are no great existential themes of human nature explored here despite the paring down of the drama to classic Western components of a man, a woman, a bleak landscape and a horse.
The acting overall is fine but the movie's lack of essence scuppers it from the characterization point of view from the outset - despite it being largely character driven and softening the expertly-staged and inevitable violence of the male antagonisms shown. The simplistic concept of a woman looking to settle down with the bravest man is never explored in the ethical terms needed, save to say that she is little more than the whore they all lust after. More psychological complexity here would have put this into the John Ford class.
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