If desert islands had the ability to show films. And I was stranded on one of them this film would definitely come with me. Beautifully filmed, acted to perfection it is not in my opinion appreciated enough for those film critics who should know better. It has excellent dialogue, and in a saloon bar a woman accosts Richard Egan and says ' I have the time ' and Egan replies ' no, you haven't ' and the whole atmosphere of the film is a fight against what I call a pessimism of the spirit. As for the plot Egan has shot a friend in the back, and he is haunted within himself and by those around him. He befriends a child played by Ben Chapin and cannot defend his father being murdered by professional killers. Reaching a town where the child has relatives; a saddened woman played by Dorothy Malone and her ' supposed ' cowardly husband played excellently by the great Cameron Mitchell, he adopts a new life. Both he and Egan are haunted in their own ways, and this makes for a dark, psychological Western. No spoilers to what happens but it is a major masterpiece of film making and should have a bigger following than it has. It also has a wonderful score by Dmitri Tiomkin.
Review of Tension at Table Rock
