Audie Murphy only worked with a couple of first-rate writers a few times in his career - this was one, with a script written by Burt Kennedy. It's no classic but it's much better than a lot of Audie's 60s output, benefiting from some strong characterisations and good performances.
It starts with a bromance between loner Audie and gunslinger Dan Duryea, who saves the little guy from an unjust hanging; they are hired by mysterious Joan O'Brien to travel through hostile Injun country, and discover that O'Brien wants Duryea dead. She tries to persuade Audie to help him off Duryea, but although he's falling for her, he's torn with loyalty for his new friend.
O'Brien's character is one of the most meaty in ever in an Audie Murphy western (not that hard to do): beautiful, brave, driven by vengeance, handy with a gun, an ex-prostitute; Duryea is also intriguing - self-loathing, bitter and haunted, wanting to make a connection with Audie. Audie Murphy plays, well, Audie Murphy but he does offer the film a needed moral centre.
I don't want to overpraise this - it's directed by Harry Keller who was a hack, and misses opportunities here wholesale (there's a couple of encounters on the road with Indians and outlaws which are suspenseful enough but which a really good director could have knocked out of the park). Joan O'Brien - best known as the big boobed love interest in Operation Petticoat - is given a gift of a part and does very little with it (she does look fetching in her back sombrero and white shirt). But Murphy is strong, Duryea excellent, there is a decent amount of tension and strong character work, and more homoeroticism than an Australian film.
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