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Buchanan Rides Alone

Buchanan Rides Alone

Western · 1958

Passing through a border town, a man is caught up in a Mexican's murder of a member of the town's most powerful family.

Movie details

Buchanan Rides Alone

“DOUBLE HANGING -- DOUBLE THRILLS!”

1958 Western 1h 20m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.6 / 10

Community rating

Passing through a border town, a man is caught up in a Mexican's murder of a member of the town's most powerful family.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Buchanan Rides Alone?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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The Wonderful Country

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Having fled to Mexico from the U.S. many years ago for killing his father's murderer, Martin Brady travels to Texas to broker an arms deal for his Mexican boss, strongman Governor Cipriano Castro. Brady breaks a leg and while recuperating in Texas the gun shipment is stolen. Complicating matters further the wife of local army major Colton has designs on him, and the local Texas Ranger captain makes him a generous offer to come back to the states and join his outfit. After killing a man in self-defense, Brady slips back over the border and confronts Castro who is not only unhappy that Brady has lost his gun shipment but is about to join forces with Colton to battle the local raiding Apache Indians.

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When the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town.

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Hud Bannon is a ruthless young man who tarnishes everything and everyone he touches. Hud represents the perfect embodiment of alienated youth, out for kicks with no regard for the consequences. There is bitter conflict between the callous Hud and his stern and highly principled father, Homer. Hud's nephew Lon admires Hud's cheating ways, though he soon becomes too aware of Hud's reckless amorality to bear him anymore. In the world of the takers and the taken, Hud is a winner. He's a cheat, but, he explains, "I always say the law was meant to be interpreted in a lenient manner."

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Purgatory

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An outlaw band flees a posse and rides into Refuge, a small town where no one carries a gun, drinks, or swears. The town is actually Purgatory, and the peaceful inhabitants are all famous dead outlaws and criminals such as Doc Holiday and Wild Bill Hickok who must redeem themselves before gaining admittance to Heaven... or screw up and go to Hell.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Budd Boetticher

Written by

Charles Lang

Randolph Scott

Randolph Scott

Tom Buchanan

Craig Stevens

Craig Stevens

Abe Carbo

Barry Kelley

Barry Kelley

Lew Agry

Tol Avery

Tol Avery

Judge Simon Agry

Peter Whitney

Peter Whitney

Amos Agry

M

Manuel Rojas

Juan de la Vega

L.Q. Jones

L.Q. Jones

Pecos Hill

Court is in session

Put Buchanan Rides Alone on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Patience is part of the point.”

Duration becomes texture. The film asks you to inhabit its world instead of merely processing its plot.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“A test of endurance, your honour.”

Stillness keeps submitting itself as meaning. At some point, contemplation needs something worth contemplating.