The Tall T (1957)
Budd Boetticher is a director famous for his westerns co-produced and starring Randolph Scott. Generally filmed on location in the Lone Pines area of California his name on the credits is usually a stamp of quality. The Tall T is no exception.
Based on an Elmore Leonard story called The Captives, it finds Scott held captive along with the two passengers of a stage coach. Captive and held to ransom for $50,000 by western go to bad guy, Richard Boone and his two accomplices, one of whom is sharp shooting Henry Silva.
The Tall T is actually a very worthy film. Fairly short, it only runs 78 minutes, which means Boetticher doesn't mess about. It's straight into the action from the off and the film barely pauses to draw breath through out. Randolph Scott is his usual tough but fair self and works well with what is a fairly basic but engaging story of kidnap, betrayal and double cross. Look out for the scene where Scott shoots one of the villains (Skip Homeier) in the head with a shotgun, it's brief but bloody and quite unexpected. Also worth mentioning is a sequence where Scott rides a bull at a ranch for a bet. he's eventually thrown off but is chased by the enraged animal so jumps in a large drinking trough to escape. However the bull follows him feet first and clearly tramples him under water. Scott, western god that he is plays the scene in a single take but can clearly be seen limping off at the end of the take.
In 2000, The Tall T was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Still doesn't explain what a Tall T is though.
You know what? I figured it out when i downloaded the movie poster. Scott himself is the tall T as he flags down the stage coach for a ride.
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