Less of a western and more of a light thriller but none the worse for that. Spencer Tracey is powerful in his characterisation, although the plot is fairly one dimensional. More of a short story/piece dragged out into a feature - not always successfully. Having said that the cinematography is excellent and the juxtaposition of the western with the bullet train opening is particularly pleasing

A good story is pushed over the line to greatness by an excellent cast.

Predictably fine film, with a first-rate all-star cast bringing a fine sense of style and gravitas to proceedings. Tracy is oddly cast as hard man with a past, but pulls it off well. Major detriment is Andre Previn's overstated, bombastic music score. Gotta love Borgnine when he goes into pain-in-the-arse mode! Beautifully shot, with very clever and effective use of CinemaScope (love the opening shot of the train pulling away from Tracy in the background.)

"Sturges laces his allegory with mounting tension." - Nick Schager

Great performances, great locations and a exhilarating and menacing atmosphere throughout.

Superb photography and performances give the film a menacing tone that carries it screaming through its short runtime.

Stooped-over octogenarian Spencer Tracy is impossible to take seriously as any sort of "tough shoes." The addition of a subtracted hand helps some, but in the end the presence of Lee Marvin, notorious woman-fleecer and beater-upper of men, proves to be too much for the diminutive "star" to overcome. According to Borgnine's memoir, "Lafayette Pie-Face," Tracy insisted Marvin take his daily strength-naps two towns over out of fear that the sleeping Marvin would hypnotize him into becoming "a gay."

Worthy western style film which must have been very relevant for its time. Spencer Tracy is superb. Fantastic cinematography. Classic.

Western, film noir and social issue movie all pressed together and cut into one tight, well-acted little gem. Spencer's resolute one-armed stranger is a great character.

a good movie that's a bit on the simple side, but tracy is awesome and it was played out pretty well. tracy's character had a hard boiled feel to him and that's what makes this stand out.

eh

Suspenseful! It holds back the details for as long as possible, making it that much more gratifying and exciting when they are finally revealed. Spencer Tracy should have won an Academy Award for being such a badass.

A fine western with a good cast and several distinctive features: It takes place in 1945 right after WWII, has a bit of a noirish quality to it and its protagonist is deceptively non-confrontational at first. The ending was a bit of a letdown.

Like a Priestley play; almost an abstraction.

Classic.

Very well-crafted bit of western/noir/drama, with a superb leading performance by Spencer Tracy.

Not bad, but I thought the most notable thing during my viewing was the "Presented in Fabulous Cinemascope" message which preceded a trailer for "Bad Day" on my VHS copy, followed by a "formatted to fit your TV screen" message before the actual movie. The trailer looked pretty amazing.

Robert Ryan makes a silly red cap fairly menacing. Spencer Tracy's "judo" is also probably the earliest example of Asian martial arts in American film.

Tense and compelling. Withholds just the right amount of information to be fascinating.

M Night Shymalan type of movie.

Modern-day pulp Western, hard-boiled to suit the modern-day taste, concerning a one-armed war veteran (Spencer Tracy) bringing to light the deep dark secret of a sun-baked desert town. Director John Sturges's resourceful use of the then new Cinemascope format nicely captures the arid spaciousness and siesta atmosphere of the setting.

Often overlooked entry in the small-town-that-holds-terrible-secrets films, tied in with some well handled social commentary about racism. It's chiefly notable for it's nasty, doom-laden atmosphere and uniformly fantastic performances. An added recommendation can be made for people who felt disappointed that Tracy never really got to kick anyones ass in Fury.

It's a good premise, and it seems like it might have been great pulp fiction. But the film suffers from absolutely sparkless interaction between opposing forces. It seems as if the director was trying to achieve a sense the hopeless nihilism one can take on living in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, and the restraint that these people are showing by tolerating Tracy's presence, but instead it seems like they just don't care very much.

A film most notable for its wonderfully realized sense of location, where archaic clashes with modern. Spencer Tracy strolls into a contemporary noir Wild West, cleverly working his way through a mystery that involves an entire town. Tracy has great chemistry with Robert Ryan, who takes his typically vile disposition to the next level.

How weird . . . a martial arts movie from the '50's starring Spency Tracy. Robert Ryan--as usual--is a great bad guy.