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More Hamburger icon An icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon. Web icon An illustration of a computer application window Wayback Machine Texts icon An illustration of an open book. Alone with McNally, Domergue vamps him into forgetting his job…In a sense, McNally’s gun had abandons him by becoming lame after an injury, leaving him more open to assault. I don't know what surprised me the most, a western directed by Don Siegel and such a clean one (in the sense it is not very gritty and it follows the plot points of most westerns of the 50's) or the fact that Lee Marvin once had hair which was not white.

The tropes and structure that he's working with here are certainly very conventional since it looks, acts, and is executed like a pretty typical Western of the classic variety.

There are a lot of elegant tracking shots here, and the way the titular duel is shot makes it clear that director Don Siegel was really relishing getting to play around in the western sandbox. The local marshal, "Lightning" Tyrone (Stephen McNally), is also tracking the gang, but receives a crippling injury during a gunfight. Murphy is good but his character has less meat on it and he has therefore less to do that really sticks in the mind. The prettiest, Miss Domergue, not only dresses to the ears but, as one of the chief culprits, is not above garroting a wounded man to death. Participating in the proceedings are Faith Domergue, Susan Cabot and Eugene Iglesias, who gives the film's best performance.The story takes an ominous twist after the Marshall meets the scheming girl Opal Lacy who has secret plans that aren't in the Marshall's best interest. Unashamedly pulpy is this Western, no surprise when you see that it's an early film from legend Don Siegel. A gang of outlaws is murdering miners and taking over their claims, but they cross the wrong man when they target the father of Luke Cromwell (Audie Murphy), a gunslinger known as "the Silver Kid. A gang of claim jumpers is infesting the territory, gaining ownership of undermanned mining operations through extortion. He is deputised by Marshal Lightning Tyrone ( Stephen McNally) of Silver City, who wants to defeat the claim jumpers.