Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Bill Slocum The grand run of Randolph Scott-Budd Boetticher westerns stumbles a bit in this serio-comic outing featuring a town of villains who get more than they bargained for when they tangle with a man named Buchanan they underestimate to their grief.Buchanan (Scott) rides into Agry Town, on the border between California and Mexico, looking to make tracks to his West Texas home. But the Agrys are tough customers who rile easily. Buchanan finds himself facing the brunt of their nastiness after saving a Mexican from their brand of vigilante justice.Scott does a lot of smiling here, more than any of his other Boetticher-directed vehicles, of a piece with the more amiable if still dangerous mood of the film. The comedy is established early when we see Scott take stock of his new surroundings. Everyone in Agry Town is fairly corrupt and mean of spirit, particularly the three Agry brothers who control the town."Ain't there anybody in this town who ain't an Agry?" Buchanan marvels.No one cares about the boy whom the Mexican kills, "it was inevitable" is all the father cares to say, and you see he's right. But since the kid was an Agry, it doesn't matter he was up to no good. They decide to lynch the Mexican quick, not to mention Buchanan for helping him. Buchanan, it turns out, was carrying $2,000 that the fat sheriff, Lew Agry (Barry Kelley) wants for himself. Lew's fatter brother, Amos (Peter Whitney), is sore because he wants a bigger share of the loot, but Lew enlists his help to double-cross town boss Simon Agry, the dead man's father, out of money he hopes to extort from the Mexican's rich dad.Them Agrys themselves don't have much going for them other than sordidness. The westerns Scott made with director Boetticher usually had fascinating villains in them, ruthless men of character and sand, who made these adventures memorable. Here, the only interesting characters are played by Craig Stevens, as the one Agry honcho who looks like he eats a salad now and then, and L. Q. Jones as a gunman who cottons to Buchanan because he's from West Texas, too.It's wrong to dock a movie because it's not "Ride Lonesome" or "Seven Men From Now;" few are in that class. "Buchanan Rides Alone" does have its moments, mostly comic, like a trial scene where Buchanan amuses the jury with the story of his ramrod livelihood or a scene where Jones offers some heartfelt words over the corpse of an ex-partner who probably shouldn't have stole from him so often.Buchanan has a scene where he's trying to get his money back from the sheriff, who tells him it's in a safe. Shoot me, the sheriff says, and you won't get your money."You know something, sheriff, it just might be worth it," Buchanan replies.But like julian-er-allen says in a January 2013 review here, this is "very much the poor relation" in the Scott-Boetticher clan, more so than the oft-criticized "Decision At Sundown" which has style and passion missing here. Scott seems stiff and awkward too often, and the story stagnates into a series of captures and escapes. There's an especially ridiculous section in the last half-hour where Buchanan and his friends leave some bad guys with their horses and guns. It's hard to care as much as you should when the hero himself doesn't seem too swift.The ending is a right hash of a good idea, centering on a bag of money which really shouldn't matter as much as it is made to here. The point may be that corruption corrupts everyone, even the good guys, but it's so underplayed it doesn't connect to anything. It just drags.Add to that a television-western set design even Lucian Ballard's lenswork can't save and generic musical underscoring, and you have a disappointing example that even great filmmakers and actors have their off days. "Buchanan" is kind of fun, in a low-key way, but it's nothing like what you have a right to expect from this team.

bkoganbing Soldier of fortune and jack of all trades Randolph Scott rides in from Mexico to the border town of Agryville which is run by three brothers, all greedy and of varying intelligence. Judge Tol Avery, Sheriff Barry Kelley and hotel owner Peter Whitney. They are three really low specimens of humanity, only differing in their type of depravity.They've got another young Agry in William Leslie who is Avery's son, a real punk who gets killed by Manuel Rojas in a gunfight. But with the town being named Agryville Rojas is not exactly assured due process and when Scott steps in to keep the Agrys and their hired guns from beating Rojas to death, he gets arrested as well as an accomplice.But these Agrys are a really scurvy lot and Avery decides there's more money to be made by ransoming off Rojas to his father who is a rich Mexican don. And he's not going to cut in his brothers. So this Agry family double dealing is what gets Scott free and of course the cowboy hero does what a cowboy hero always does.Buchanan Rides Alone is probably one of the weaker of the Randolph Scott-Budd Boetticher films, it could have used a lot better script. Still Scott is his usual heroic self and he's got a touch of humor in this one. In fact the business where you see all the town businesses with the Agry name on it, must have inspired Mel Brooks to use Johnson on all establishments in Blazing Saddles.There are two other prominent roles, Craig Stevens who works for Avery, but plays a lone hand and L.Q. Jones in one of his earliest roles as a young cowboy who proves to be a friend indeed for Randolph Scott.For fans of Randolph Scott and good B westerns.

alan-pratt High quality Boetticher western that succeeds on almost every front.Scott is first class, less taciturn than usual and displaying a gift for wry humour not always evident in his performances. The supporting cast is well above average and Barry Kelley, Tol Avery and Peter Whitney, in particular, are all excellent, playing their parts to near perfection.The scenery, both in and out of the town is wonderfully evocative - cacti to die for! - the guitar music is hauntingly beautiful and the colours are bright and pleasing.If I have a criticism at all, it is that the plot is a little too convoluted - too many twists and counter twists - but, in the face of so much that is good, this is but a minor quibble.Incidentally, the only women in the production have such tiny roles, they are not even named in the cast list. So no-one "gets the girl" this time round!

jcohen1 I'm familiar with Scott's work and am a fan. This film doesn't quite fit in with films like The Tall T, Ride Lonesome, Decision at Sundown etc. Scott shares the screen with lots of supporting characters- LQ Jones, Craig Stevens and all the Agry men. The film opens with Scott happily heading to West Texas via Agry after a profitable Mexican run. He just wants food, probably something of a binding nature and drink. What no women? Only one woman here of interest- Barbara James uncredited as Nina the judge's Mexican housekeeper. Scott has barely any interaction with any females-Jennifer Holiday. Our Scott stands for loyalty, bravery, a fair fight, love of your belt, gun and Texas. I'll give him that. There is no compelling villain here as the Agry's are a bunch of double dealing B movie bumblers. Amos Agry reminds me of a young Andy Devine. Scott is good as a very relaxed murder defendant in a back barroom courtroom. This flick therefore falls toward the lower rung of the RS canon IMHO. I'd see it again, but I'd be riding lonesome.