The Tin Star **** (1957, Henry Fonda, Anthony Perkins, Betsy Palmer, Michel Ray, Neville Brand, John McIntire) – Classic Movie Review 2051

Anthony Mann’s tense and taut 1957 Western stars Henry Fonda as cynical ex-sheriff turned bounty hunter ‘Morg’ Hickman and Anthony Perkins as the young sheriff.

Director Anthony Mann’s tense and taut 1957 Western film The Tin Star stars Henry Fonda as cynical former sheriff turned bounty hunter ‘Morg’ Hickman, who arrives on horseback in a small town with a dead outlaw in tow. Though disliked by the townsfolk, he helps admiring young greenhorn sheriff Ben Owens (25-year-old Anthony Perkins in his fourth film) to learn the ways of a lawman and to clean up the town. In return Hickman learns to face up to his past and his issues.

Dudley (Stagecoach) Nichols’s screenplay tells a familiar, small-scale story, perhaps, but it is turned into a great success by the assured performances (especially from the two star plus Neville Brand as the baddie and John McIntire as the doctor), the effective Nichols script (based on the story The Badge by Barney Slater and Joel Kane) with its fine dialogue and well-developed characterisations, and the rousing Elmer Bernstein score.

It’s a shame that it is shot in black and white, but the film has become considered one of the classics of the genre. Nichols’s screenplay and the original story enjoyed the rare honour for a Western by being Oscar nominated. And its unexpected Bafta nomination as Best Film from any Source is an indication of the movie’s real and special quality.

Also in the cast are Michel Ray, Neville Brand, John McIntire, Mary Webster, Peter Baldwin, Richard Shannon, Lee Van Cleef, James Bell, Howard Petrie, Russell Simpson, Hal K Dawson, Jack Kenney, Mickey Finn, Frank Cady and Frank Cordell.

Anthony Mann shows his class with Westerns after making five classic films with James Stewart – Winchester ’73 (1950), Bend of the River (1952), The Naked Spur (1953), The Far Country (1955) and The Man from Laramie (1955). And indeed James Stewart was originally supposed to play Morgan Hickman.

The Tin Star is directed by Anthony Mann, runs 93 minutes, is written by Dudley Nichols, from a story The Badge by Barney Slater and Joel Kane, is made by Perlberg-Seaton Productions (as the Perlsea Company), released by Paramount Pictures (1957) (US), is shot in VistaVision and black and white by Loyal Griggs, is produced by William Perlberg and George Seaton, scored by Elmer Bernstein, and designed by Hal Pereira.

Anthony Perkins and John McIntire both play in Psycho (1960).

Hooray for a tagline that tells the entire story! Here it is: ‘For $40 a month and a shiny Tin Star… the young sheriff faced the mob alone… except for the angry ex-sheriff who couldn’t watch him die and a hero-worshiping boy who lived only for the day he’d wear a TIn Star of his own!

Oh, and they got Cecil B DeMille to promote it! Here it is: ‘In the able hands of Henry Fonda and Tony Perkins The Tin Star shines like gold!’

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2051

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