The Tall T

Randolph Scott stars in The Tall T, director Budd Boetticher's psychological western about a man trying to rescue a woman (Maureen O'Sullivan) being held for ransom by outlaws (played by Richard Boone, Henry Silva, and Skip Homeier).

The landscape is deftly stylized into dark interiors (caves, a fateful well) that punctuate the wide-open spaces. Boone makes one of the most memorable of Boetticher's witty, intelligent villains. Screenwriter Burt Kennedy adapted a story by Elmore Leonard.

The Tall T was added to the National Film Registry in 2000.