Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

dougdoepke With his square-jawed determination, Scott (Danning) makes a riveting screen presence. So, by golly, he's going to get whoever is responsible for his fiancé's death and nothing's going to stand in his way. Not even the comely Chapman (Kate) or the Big Guy in the Sky. But he's got a tough bunch to deal with, especially blond bruiser Tucker (Ernie), who would rather grind hands than seeds. That fist-fight with Danning may be a stretch, but it's sure imaginative. Then there's that arch baddie Macready (Miles) and veteran sneer merchant Douglas Fowley (Stew). So Danning's got his work cut out for him. You gotta love those red rock Sedona AZ locations. They turn up in so many horse operas of the time. Speaking of turning up and lending color—yes indeed, there he is, old gravel- voiced grouch Edgar Buchanan as the sheriff. No western of the day worth its salt was without his particular brand of character color. And, guys, there's not just the usual one good-looking woman in the movie. There're three, so which one will Scott end up with.Can't help noticing that Harry Joe Brown produced this film along with Scott's later The Tall T (1957). Then too, the plot here is similar to many of the Scott-Buddy Boetticher classics of a decade later. But then, Scott was so good at grim determination, it's hard not to make him a revenge-seeker. Anyway, better than most six-gun directors, Enright knows where to put the camera, helping to make this one of Scott's more memorable westerns that even non-fans may enjoy.

GManfred Stalwart western hero Randolph Scott is at his stalwart best in "Coroner Creek" - and it wasn't directed by the overrated Budd Boetticher. Scott is a man of action as he attempts to avenge the killing of his fiancée at the hands of George MacReady in one of his most villainous roles. As mentioned, the emphasis is on action; the exasperating Boetticher often put one of Hollywood's best cowboy stars in complex psychological situations while forgoing Scott's long suit.In "Coroner Creek", Scott is surrounded by three women who manage to slow down the story by their presence; Marguerite Chapman as a moralizing hotel owner, Sally Eilers as a widowed ranch owner, and Barbara Read as Macready's dipso wife. But the storyline is so good that you can overlook these interruptions and await his next confrontation with baddies. There are gunfights and fistfights enough to satisfy the most avid action fan, including a left-handed fist fight with Forrest Tucker (you'll have to watch it for more info). I liked this one enough to rate it an eight.

Tweekums The opening scene to this Randolph Scott suggests it is going to be an old fashioned cowboys versus Indians film as we see a group of Apache attacking a stage coach; it turns out that they are working for a white man though and once they force the coach to stop this white man kills the men and takes the one female passenger away with him. After this prologue we meet the films protagonist; Chris Danning. He is trying to find out what happened on the stage and learns a few facts about the man responsible; he is blond, blue eyed, has a scar on his face and can speak fluent Apache... he also learns that the woman later killed herself.At this point we don't know his connection to the woman but it is clear that she meant a lot to him as he sets off to find the man responsible. He tracks him down to the town of Coroner Creek; here he learns the man's name is Younger Miles and he is the dominant rancher in the area; doing what it takes to force rivals off their land and getting away with it because his father in law is the sheriff. Danning doesn't go gunning for Miles; instead he starts to provoke him; getting a job with Miles last rival and letting the whole town that he helped Miles' drunk wife get home. It doesn't all go Danning's way though a fight with Miles' gang leaves him with a badly broken hand and several hundred of his employer's cattle are killed when Miles' men set fire the undergrowth in the canyon they were grazing in. This doesn't stop Danning of course and ultimately he will have his revenge and we will learn why he was determined to see Miles dead.I found this to be a surprisingly gritty western; the fight between Scott and Forrest Tucker was particularly brutal for a film of this era; with the latter stamping on Scott's hand then when the tables are turned Scott does the same to him; showing that our hero is only out for revenge. An even bigger surprise came earlier in the scene when Scott bit Tucker's arm; I don't recall seeing any western hero fight that dirty before! Scott puts in a fine performance as Danning; he may have been fifty when he filmed this but he was believable as a man who could handle himself in a dangerous situation. George Macready, played Younger Miles, was suitably villainous; we even see him slapping his wife hitting a man across the face with a spur just to prove how bad he is! Director Ray Enright keeps the action moving along well enough and for the most part makes the fights look good... one early fight did include a very obviously sped up section though which didn't work for me.If you enjoy B westerns this is definitely worth checking out if it is on TV and is a must if you have enjoyed other Randolph Scott westerns.

Robert J. Maxwell Not a bad movie, it stars Randolph Scott as a man whose wife has been killed by the heavy (MacReady) and who spends the rest of the story tracking him down and whittling away at both his empire and his nerves.Scott looks fine physically, as usual. MacReady is suitably villainous. He looks so awesomely Teutonic. Come to think of it, as a revenge Western, this should have been directed by Fritz Lang.That probably would have helped a good deal because Ray Enright's direction never rises above the functionally mediocre. Actors go where they are supposed to go and say what they are supposed to say, and that's about it. But then the whole film is routine. The characters are pretty simple. Two men fight and tumble into a shack and the balsam wood boards scatter like feathers. The script is equally prosaic. The comic sidekick, Wally Ford, adds an obligato to some of his lines -- "I reckon." (Amusing.) The cast has a lot of familiar faces who aren't asked to do very much with their one-dimensional characters. The three actresses are fundamentally uninteresting.It isn't terrible. What I mean is that it's not a cheap B Western with telephone poles in the background. It's just that, considering some of Scott's other Westerns, it rather groans and creaks.