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Buchanan Rides Alone

Buchanan Rides Alone

Western · 1958

Passing through a border town, a man is caught up in a Mexican's murder of a member of the town's most powerful family.

Movie details

Buchanan Rides Alone

“DOUBLE HANGING -- DOUBLE THRILLS!”

1958 Western 1h 20m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.6 / 10

Community rating

Passing through a border town, a man is caught up in a Mexican's murder of a member of the town's most powerful family.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Buchanan Rides Alone?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Flaming Star

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Pacer Burton, a young man of mixed Kiowa and white heritage, is caught between two worlds as conflict erupts between Native Americans and white settlers in Texas.

Yellow Sky

Yellow Sky

Western · 1948

In 1867, a gang robs a bank and flees into the desert. Out of water, the outlaws encounter a ghost town called Yellow Sky and its only residents, a hostile young woman and her grandfather.

Guns for San Sebastian

Guns for San Sebastian

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Leon Alastray is an outlaw who has been given sanctuary by Father John, whom he then escorts to the village of San Sebastian. The village is deserted, with its cowardly residents hiding in the hills from Indians, who regularly attack the village and steal all their supplies. When Father John is murdered, the villagers mistakenly think the outlaw is the priest. Alastray at first tells them he is not a priest, but they don't believe it, and an apparent miracle seems to prove they are correct. Eventually, he assists them in regaining their confidence and defending themselves.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

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Questions arise when Senator Stoddard attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon in a small Western town. Flashing back, we learn Doniphon saved Stoddard, then a lawyer, when he was roughed up by a crew of outlaws terrorizing the town, led by Liberty Valance. As the territory's safety hung in the balance, Doniphon and Stoddard, two of the only people standing up to him, proved to be very important, but different, foes to Valance.

The Wonderful Country

The Wonderful Country

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Having fled to Mexico from the U.S. many years ago for killing his father's murderer, Martin Brady travels to Texas to broker an arms deal for his Mexican boss, strongman Governor Cipriano Castro. Brady breaks a leg and while recuperating in Texas the gun shipment is stolen. Complicating matters further the wife of local army major Colton has designs on him, and the local Texas Ranger captain makes him a generous offer to come back to the states and join his outfit. After killing a man in self-defense, Brady slips back over the border and confronts Castro who is not only unhappy that Brady has lost his gun shipment but is about to join forces with Colton to battle the local raiding Apache Indians.

Frontera

Frontera

Western · 2014

After crossing the border illegally for work, Miguel, a hard-working father and devoted husband, finds himself wrongfully accused of murdering a former sheriff’s wife. After learning of his imprisonment, Miguel’s pregnant wife tries to come to his aid and lands in the hands of corrupt coyotes who hold her for ransom. Dissatisfied with the police department’s investigation, the former sheriff tries to uncover the truth about his wife’s death and discovers disturbing evidence that will destroy one family’s future, or tear another’s apart.

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When the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town.

Hud

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Drama · 1963

Hud Bannon is a ruthless young man who tarnishes everything and everyone he touches. Hud represents the perfect embodiment of alienated youth, out for kicks with no regard for the consequences. There is bitter conflict between the callous Hud and his stern and highly principled father, Homer. Hud's nephew Lon admires Hud's cheating ways, though he soon becomes too aware of Hud's reckless amorality to bear him anymore. In the world of the takers and the taken, Hud is a winner. He's a cheat, but, he explains, "I always say the law was meant to be interpreted in a lenient manner."

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Budd Boetticher

Written by

Charles Lang

Randolph Scott

Randolph Scott

Tom Buchanan

Craig Stevens

Craig Stevens

Abe Carbo

Barry Kelley

Barry Kelley

Lew Agry

Tol Avery

Tol Avery

Judge Simon Agry

Peter Whitney

Peter Whitney

Amos Agry

M

Manuel Rojas

Juan de la Vega

L.Q. Jones

L.Q. Jones

Pecos Hill

Court is in session

Put Buchanan Rides Alone on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Patience is part of the point.”

Duration becomes texture. The film asks you to inhabit its world instead of merely processing its plot.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“A test of endurance, your honour.”

Stillness keeps submitting itself as meaning. At some point, contemplation needs something worth contemplating.