Michael Winner's first American picture is a tough and violent Western. When an old man is killed by a group of drunken cowboys, Marshal Maddox (Burt Lancaster) rides into town to take the men back for trial. But he discovers that the men work for the evil Bronson (Lee J Cobb), so things won't be that easy, particularly as the local sheriff (Robert Ryan) is a coward. A showdown is inevitable, but the Marshal has a problem: he abhors violence. A good cast work well with the British director, among them Joseph Wiseman (who played Dr No in the first Bond film), but they can't lift this above the gratuitous mess that it is.

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