Review of Wichita (1955) by Jay N — 21 Mar 2009

Tourneur has a great way of undercutting expectations at every turn. The central conflict is a pretty straightforward one between law/order and profit, but the "villains" here are giving much greater humanity, or at least clearly defined motives and morality than that of the three Ford westerns I've seen so far.

Also different from Ford, Tourneur takes a civilized, anti-gunslinger, anti-violence-to- problem-solving stance, which is reinforced by the unglamorous way Tourneur shoots the action scenes. Too bad Tourneur wasn't able to anything interesting with the cliche romantic subplot.