The Violent Men
Ford plays a rancher who was originally from the East. He was wounded in the Civil War and went west for the climate. He is given a clean bill of health by his doctor and wants to sell out, marry his sweetheart (May Wynn) and go back East.
But the only person to buy is the ruthless Robinson, who has employed violence and intimidation to force others to sell their property--he wants the entire valley. He employs gunslingers to do his dirty work, and his brother, Keith, has returned to help flush out the others.
Ford doesn't any part of the feud, but when he sees Robinson and Keith's methods (an honest sheriff is shot in the back right in front of his eyes) he decides to fight back. But really, he's most angered that Robinson gives him a low ball offer for the ranch. Ford finally acts on his principles, but at the core it's about money. When one of his hands is murdered by Robinson's men, he vows revenge, and tells Robinson, "You won't like the way I fight." The way he fights is by using his military experience. He's like the Sun Tzu of the West.
Stanwyck is Robinson's wife, and we see she's really a Lady Macbeth type, only she's really in love with Keith (Robinson was about thirty years older than Keith, so it is a bit distracting to imagine them as brothers). In the mix is Dianne Foster as Stanwyck and Robinson's daughter, who is torn between filial loyalty and the reality of her family's chicanery.
This all makes for a terrific Western, with lots of action and a showdown at the end. These pictures, before the reinvention of the Western in the 60s, always had the bad guys getting what's coming to him (or her) but I really liked the way each character had an arc, especially that of Robinson, who ends up questioning what he's been doing.
I also appreciated that The Violent Men has not an ounce of fat on it. It tells a complete story in 95 minutes, which some filmmakers today could learn from.
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