Diagonaldi Very well executed

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) This film would probably not come out with honors if reviewed by a harsh critic. They would find flaws in the psychological motivations of the main characters, and at certain moments the simplicity of a comic book style of narration where the characters ostensibly explain what the screen cannot show. But there is another dimension to a western where other factors are what count. This film grabs you from the beginning and involves you up to the end, pure excitement, fast moving, there is Quantrill, Jesse James, and the hero, Jim Dancer (Randolph Scott) who used to ride with them taking part on the massacre in Lawrence, Kansas. By a series of circumstances he ends up sheriff of a town, but it is only a question of time before people will find out who he really is. There is a great ending and an excellent Dale Robertson as Jesse James on a very small part. If you think you saw all the best Scott movies, you will have a good surprise when you see this one, and it is hard to believe, it was made in 1949!

Brian Camp Renowned western novelist Frank Gruber wrote the script of FIGHTING MAN OF THE PLAINS (1949) based on his own book. It tells the story of Jim Dancer (Randolph Scott), a fugitive outlaw who'd been part of Captain William Quantrill's infamous raid on Lawrence, Kansas on August 21, 1863. Dancer is apprehended by a "Pleasanton" (read: Pinkerton) detective who is then killed in an accident, allowing Dancer to take his identity and wind up in Lanyard, Kansas, where he's pressured into taking the job of Marshal after fearlessly subduing some rowdy cowboys. It's a fairly corrupt town, but the new Marshal does a good job of keeping the peace and gets aid from some unexpected quarters at the local gambling hall. The script is awash in simmering undercurrents, including the fact that the man who owns the town, Slocum (Barry Kelley), had killed Dancer's brother during the war, and Dancer had killed Slocum's brother in response during the Lawrence raid. Slocum's niece (Joan Taylor), who'd witnessed the killing of her father a decade earlier, lives with her uncle but fails to recognize Dancer as the culprit and begins to fall for him. Meanwhile the gambling saloon owner, Oldham (Victor Jory), finds his voluptuous partner, Florence (Jane Nigh), falling for Dancer as well. Eventually, Slocum alienates both the local cattlemen and the railroad company through his efforts to control all the land around town and a showdown is inevitable. At one point, a detective from Chicago shows up, summoned by the suspicious Slocum, to see if "Marshal Cummings" (Dancer's new identity), is indeed his old detective buddy. To make matters worse, Slocum's got cocky young gunslinger Johnny Tancred (Bill Williams) in his pocket, ready to take over when the tide turns. Dancer has his own ace in the hole, however, thanks to his old wartime associations. The finale offers a clear violation of the Production Code, but I can see where the blurred lines between good and bad, lawman and lawbreaker, "respectable" and disreputable could have easily confused the censors. Lots of stuff happens in the movie and the cast of characters is quite colorful. Things never slow down and surprises come at us pretty quickly. I had a great time watching this. I never felt it getting too far-fetched for me. The cast includes plenty of old hands at this kind of thing (Scott, Jory, Paul Fix, Douglas Kennedy) and a few new hands (Taylor, Nigh, Williams) and they're all good. Jory is particularly awesome. He comes off initially as his patented oily gambler, but he proudly defies our expectations. Future western star Dale Robertson appears as Jesse James in his first credited role. He has only two scenes—one good one and one great one. Film noir regulars Barry Kelley and Berry Kroeger are both on hand, one as a bad guy and one who'll surprise you.I watched this on TCM, which showed a black-and-white print of a Cinecolor film. I hope someone finds a color print and releases it on DVD.

Robert J. Maxwell Scott is arrested by James Millican, a detective for the Pleasonton Agency. The two have nothing personal against each other. When the detective is accidentally killed, someone has to cut off his hand to free Scott from the handcuffs. Scott takes the detective's place and, a bit later, is made sheriff of Lanyard, Kansas. He makes friends. He makes enemies. There are unscrupulous businessmen. Scott cleans the whole place up and gets the girl.By this point in his career Scott had decided, wisely, to turn out nothing but Westerns. He looked and acted the part well. According to Bob Osborne's commentary on TV, Scott enjoyed working out of doors, sitting back and reading the Wall Street Journal while the stunt men did the rough work. Scott was a keen investor and retired a wealthy man to the golf country of North Carolina without ever looking back at Hollywood. He bowed out after Sam Pekinpaugh's "Ride the High Country," a good note to leave on. He managed his career -- his life -- pretty well, all in all.Most of his Westerns were, if not exactly identical, cut from the same mold so the comparison of one to any of the others must depend on fine judgments about details. Is the film in glorious color? This one is not. Is the location interesting and evocative? Not this one, which looks like the San Fernando Valley used to look before the last inch of it was paved over. Better than usual support? No. Is Scott given any help from the script? An oddity of character? A quirk? An occasional wry turn of phrase? Not here. The result is a typical and not unrewarding Randolph Scott Western that doesn't distinguish itself from the many others he made in these years.Nice to see Victor Jory as something other than an open sleaze bag.

wfdickjr If doing the right thing were easy, we would not need the movies. Nor would we need writers so brilliant as to think of telling the truth. As this movie shows so well, we all lie and we all tell the truth; the difference between right and wrong is not so much what we do but when we choose to do it. When a crook tells a lie and it is still somehow the truth, we are amazed. When a stalwart citizen tells the truth and it is still somehow a lie, we are even more amazed and still somehow not surprised. Why is that? Probably because we are, if you will excuse the expression, Americans. We believe in truth but we know the truth is often a lie. We believe in nothing except justice even when it is illegal. We have no way to explain that; we just know we have no choice. Our only real problem is that we continually need to be reminded. Watch crook Randolph Scott become a lawman, better than the best, and you will be reminded.