Rawhide (1951)

Rawhide (no relation to the TV series) is a trim, satisfying Henry Hathaway picture that blends the leathery trappings of the Western with the claustrophobic atmosphere and intensity of a suspense film. Everything unfolds at a remote swing station for the transcontinental stagecoach. Routine life and work is disrupted by the arrival of several no-goods who aim to help themselves to a gold shipment. But the gold shipment isn't on the next coach, so the stationmasters and some stranded passengers are obliged to try to act normal under the guns of the intruders. Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward handle the heroics without larger-than-life posturing; Dean Jagger and Hugh Marlowe relish the rare opportunity to play villainous or ambiguous types; and Jack Elam is, well, Jack Elam, reliably vicious in every pore. The script is by Dudley Nichols--who should know the territory, having scripted John Ford's Stagecoach 13 years earlier. --Richard T. Jameson