Wandering cowboy Dempsey Ray meets young boy Jeff. Together they are hired on a new ranch, where Dempsey begins to teach Jeff cowboy art. The rancher keeps the pastures unfenced and provokes conflict with the ranchers surrounded by fences.
A classic western directed by King Vidor, one of the Hollywood veterans who worked in silent movies. A kind of film-elegy dedicated to adventurers-loners, whose way of life with their craving for individualism and open spaces is a thing of the past under the pressure of progress. The main character hates barbed wire enclosing pastures. Although he takes the side of the farmers, deep down he remains an individualist.
The film is marked by the excellent acting work of Kirk Douglas. Behind the cheerful and adventurous nature of the character hides a note of despair and awareness of their inability to live a new life. In the role of rancher Ginny Crane, bringing eroticism and sexuality to the film, not quite typical for the Western of those years. Another notable role of Dempsey's old friend is played by Claire Trevor. In the background, famous genre actors, familiar from many classical westerns: Richard Boone, William Campbell, J. S. Flippen.
Excellent cast and allows this western to enter the classics of the genre. In general, the dynamics here sometimes sags, and there are few shootings and showdowns typical of a Western. Still, Vidor gravitates here to the drama about the departure of the Old West and its heroes, single adventurers like Dempsey Ray.
7.5 out of 10