Buchanan Rides Alone

There's Aggro In Agry.

Making his way home to Texas, Tom Buchanan stops off at the little town of Agry for rest and refreshments. Quickly finding that the town is run by the family Agry itself, Buchanan falls foul of one of them straight away. His problems are further compounded when he steps in to stop a young Mexican from taking a beating. Something that finds him on the end of a rope with things looking rather grim.

How you fare with Buchanan Rides Alone may depend on how many (if any) Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott collaborations you have seen prior. For this adaptation of Jonas Ward's novel "The Name's Buchanan" is lighter in tone than their other well regarded pieces. Not to decry this as a standalone picture of course, but ...

A rare clunker from the Boetticher/Scott team

A mirthful gunman from West Texas (Randolph Scott) wanders into a border town in SoCal where feuding family members run the town (Barry Kelley, Tol Avery and Peter Whitney) and threaten to string him up for accessory to murder. Craig Stevens, Manuel Rojas and L.Q. Jones are also on hand.

"Buchanan Rides Alone" (1958) is one of five Westerns from 1956-1960 written by Burt Kennedy, directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott. The others are: 7 Men from now, The Tall T, Ride Lonesome and Comanche Station. Two additional films omit writer Kennedy from the equation: Decision at Sundown and Westbound. A little cult has formed around these Westerns and most are first-rate desp...