The Tin Star

Year of Release:  1957

Director:  Anthony Mann

Screenplay:  Dudley Nichols, from a story by Joel Kane and Barney Slater

Starring:  Henry Fonda, Anthony Perkins, Betsy Palmer

Running Time:  93 minutes

Genre:  Western

The Old West:  Bounty hunter Morg Hickman (Fonda) arrives in a small town to collect his latest bounty.  While waiting for his claim to be processed, he befriends Nona Mayfield (Palmer) a young woman who is treated with contempt by the townspeople due to her son Kip (British actor Michel Ray), whose father was Native American.  Hickman also forms a grudging almost-friendship with the town's decent, but inexperienced young sheriff Den Owens (Perkins), who Hickman helps build his confidence and improve his shooting skills.  When one of the town's most beloved citizens is shot dead, Hickman and Owens find themselves caught between a pair of ruthless bandits and a violent posse.  

This is a solid old-school Western.  It moves along at a good pace, empty of inessentials and, while the outcome is never really in doubt, it's final half hour or so is extremely suspenseful.  Henry Fonda, with his weathered face and sad eyes, plays the grizzled bounty hunter with a past whose hard shell of weary cynicism hides his innate decency.  Anthony Perkins, who will forever be known as Norman Bates in Psycho (1960), plays the idealistic and courageous, but naive and inexperienced sheriff with the blend of nervy energy and boyish charm that he would bring to his most famous role.  Anthony Perkins was a good actor, with a strong screen presence, but never really became a major star because he became so associated with Norman Bates, although, to be fair, it is an iconic performance.  Betsy Palmer, who, like Perkins, became something of a horror icon for her role as Pamela Voorhees (Jason's mum) in Friday the 13th (1980), and does well as the winsome single mother who wins Henry Fonda's heart, and keeps the home fires burning while the guys are away playing cowboys.  Anthony Mann had a reputation for more psychologically complex Westerns, many of which starred James Stewart, who was the original choice to play the Henry Fonda role.  Here, the characters have flaws, they do have complexity and are more than the cliches that you often find in these films.  There is also a message about the evils of racism and mob justice, although it is still a product of its time.  The script by Dudley Nichols (who wrote the Western classic Stagecoach (1939)) from a story by Joel Kane and Barney Slater was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay (if your interested it lost out to George Wells for Designing Woman, a film which I had never heard of).  The film is well made, and the action is exciting, and the film's California locations are impressive.  Western veteran Lee Van Cleef has a supporting role as a bandit.           

Anthony Perkins and Henry Fonda in The Tin Star