Seven Men from Now (1956)

Along with Detour, Budd Boetticher's Seven men from Now is undoubtedly one of the greatest B-Films I have seen to date. It rejuvenated the career of Randolph Scott who plays gruff sheriff Ben Stride. We are introduced tot he often stoic man when he walks into a dimly lit cave during a torrential downpour. There he meets to strangers and demonstrates his skill with a gun.

For the rest of the film he comes along side a couple from the East, struggling to move westward with all their possessions carted on a wagon. The husband John Greer (Walter Reed), is a chipper man, but not a very adept pioneer. His kindly wife Annie (Gail Russell) loves him in spite of this ineptitude. He doesn't say much, but Stride seems to like them both as well or at least he knows they won't make it very far without help. So after helping them get their wagon out of some thick mud, he sticks by their side.

They are eventually joined by Bill Masters (Lee Marvin) and his accomplice Clete, who look to make some money in the wake of Stride. He willfully explains to the Greers how Stride used to be the sheriff in the town of Silver Springs before his wife was killed a group of bandits when they were robbing a Wells Fargo shipment. He made it his mission to track down the seven men who took part in the act. And so as an opportunistic schemer Masters is content with riding along with Stride until the opportune moment to score a big payoff.

In this way he helps the Greers and Stride fend off some Apache and even puts a bullet through a man before Stride gets it. If we didn't know better we might think that Lee Marvin has gone to the good side for once. But that's not so. He's full of insinuations, flirtations, and veiled threats that somehow feel more ominous than a Vince Stone or Libert Valance. It's not just physical brutality but he is playing perhaps an even deadlier game of mental warfare. Against not only Stride, but Mrs. Greer, and her husband.

It's around this point that Masters and Clete make a move. They alert Stride's nemesis to his plans and just like that two men go and ambush the veteran sheriff. He knocks them both off after receiving a wounded leg that leaves him unconscious out in the canyon. Luckily the Greers come across him and John decides to take responsibility for what he has unknowingly done. He goes into town to face the music for the role he has ignorantly taken in this whole deadly affair. After discounting Greer as weak and spineless, Masters is finally forced to recant his previous statement.

What's left is Ben Stride out in the canyon with the Wells Fargo shipment, but with two new bandits and Masters and Clete, it looks to be a bloody finale. After a bit of backstabbing, Ben Stride alone stands alone in the aftermath. He has completed his odyssey and he says goodbye to Ms. Greer with a new resolve to take on the role of deputy sheriff in Silver Springs. But it's doubtful if that is the end of his story.

4/5 Stars