Every time Westerns in March rolls around, I find myself drawn to one of the Ranown Westerns (seven films director Budd Boetticher made with Randolph Scott). In a few years I’ll have them all reviewed, and then I don’t know what I’ll do.
Decision at Sundown is the third film together and sits somewhere in the middle in terms of my love for it.
Bart Allison (Scott) rides into the town of Sundown with his pal Sam (Noah Beery, Jr.) Sam had been scouting the place out as Bart has been scouring the Earth looking for a man he thinks was responsible for his wife’s suicide.
That man is Tate Kimbrough (John Carroll.) He came to Sundown some time before and has essentially taken the town over. On the day Bart arrives, Tate is set to marry Lucy Summerton (Karen Steele).
At first Bart takes his time scoping the situation out, but he makes it clear to anyone near him that he has no love for Kinbrough. He gets a shave and tells the barber he’s no friend of the man. He gets a drink at the bar, and even though all drinks are being paid for by Kimbrough, he makes a show of giving the bar keep a coin.
Eventually, he’s had enough, and he bursts into the wedding ceremony and announces that before the day is over, he will kill Kimbrough dead.
The townsfolk chase Bart and Sam out, and they take refuge in a livery stable. From there the film becomes a base-under-siege story. But something is happening in the town. The people don’t seem all that interested in capturing our heroes. Oh sure, Kimbrough’s got some hired guns who keep shooting at the stable, and the sheriff (Andrew Duggan) is Kimbrough’s man, though even he seems reluctant to put his life on the line for Kimbrough.
Plus there is that thing that Bart said at the wedding. Did Kimbrough really seduce Bart’s wife, leading to her suicide? Certainly Lucy wants answers to that question.
All of this loosens Kimbrough’s grip on the town. Dr. John Storrow (John Archer) has never liked Kimbrough or his influence on the town. Bart has given him the courage to stand up. Others begin to wonder why they’ve been letting Kimbrough run roughshod over them for so long.
At the same time, Bart learns more information about his wife. Maybe she wasn’t the chaste, loving wife he thought she was. What does that do to his need for revenge?
It all wraps up fairly neatly, though not as happily as you might expect. That’s the thing about these Ranown films: they aren’t afraid to give you a thoughtful, even downtrodden ending. Scott is his usual taciturn self, and Boetticher’s direction is as solid as ever. This isn’t a film that’s going to get counted as the genre’s best ever, but it is sturdy and so well made that it is still worth watching. And then a few years later, watching again. I keep it in regular rotation with all the other Ranown Westerns.
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