The Tin Star

Bounty hunter Morgan Hickman (Henry Fonda) arrives in a small town with the body of an outlaw, seeking the bounty. While the general townsfolk openly abhor Hickman, young sheriff Ben Owens (Anthony Perkins), while angry with Morg for not bringing the wanted man in alive, also admires him for taking everything in stride and knowing how to handle dangerous situations.

Owens' steady girl, whose father was the previous sheriff and was killed, refuses to marry him unless he quits the job. Owens enjoys the authority and wants to prove himself; he asks Morg to give him some lessons in order to gain confidence, particularly in light of the fact that he is going to have to face up to the town loudmouth, Bogardus (Neville Brand). Morg tells the young man that he was once a sheriff himself until a personal loss changed him. He advises Owens to quit and marry his girl, but eventually agrees to provide some advice while awaiting the arrival of the bounty money.

Due to the community's open hostility toward Morg, he cannot find a place to stay. He befriends Nona Mayfield (Betsy Palmer), whose own relationship with most of the citizens has been tense due to her half-Indian son, Kip (Michel Ray), and moves into a room in her house on the edge of town.

Things begin coming to a head when local doctor McCord, returning home during the night after delivering a baby son to a remote homesteader, is waylaid by Ed McGaffey (Lee Van Cleef), who demands the doctor treat his brother's gunshot wound, received when the brothers attacked a stagecoach, killing the guard. After McCord treats the brother, McGaffey decides to kill him because it is apparent the doctor will put two and two together and know the two are responsible for the murder.

Dr. McCord's horse and trap re-enter the town on McCord Day: everyone has come out to celebrate the doctor's 75th birthday, offering up a resounding chorus of "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow". It is soon obvious that the doctor is dead. A posse is then assembled to catch the McGaffey brothers. However, the posse splits from Owens - they see him as too soft for insisting the men be brought in alive - and the dangerous Bogardus becomes their leader.

Young Kip, fascinated by the posse as they pass his house, rides out after them on the horse Morg has given him as a present. When Morg discovers this, he spurns Owens' pleas to join him in tracking the killers and sets off to find the boy. Owens eventually joins him.

When they find Kip they also stumble upon the brothers hiding in a mountain cave. After a gunfight in which Owens receives a bullet graze on the forehead, and a clever ploy by Morg, they successfully capture the brothers and lock them in the town jail. However the posse, urged on by Bogardus, is baying for blood and want to lynch the pair. To build courage to complete the deed, the men get drunk in the saloon.

Owens, demonstrating the new-found confidence and strength he has gleaned from Morg, stands against the crowd with a shotgun to defend the McGaffeys' right to a legal trial. Bogardus makes it clear he will face down the sheriff; Owens approaches the man alone after handing the shotgun to the newly-deputized Morg. The mob separates, anticipating a gunfight. Owens confronts Bogardus and slaps him. This seems to take the wind out of the troublemaker and he turns away, appearing to back down. But, after a few steps, he turns and draws. Owens guns him down. At this point the lynch mob disperses.

Owens and his steady girl, who has decided she will subdue her fear as best she can and marry him, bid goodbye to Morg who is happily leaving town with Nona and Kip.

• Henry Fonda as Morgan Hickman
• Anthony Perkins as Sheriff Ben Owens
• Betsy Palmer as Nona Mayfield
• Michel Ray as Kip Mayfield
• Neville Brand as Bart Bogardus
• John McIntire as Dr. Joseph J. 'Doc' McCord
• Mary Webster as Millie Parker
• Peter Baldwin as Zeke McGaffey
• Richard Shannon as Buck Henderson
• Lee Van Cleef as Ed McGaffey
• Howard Petrie as Mayor Harvey King
• Frank Cady as Abe Pickett (uncredited)
• Frank McGrath as Jim Clark, the Stagecoach Driver (uncredited)

During the opening credits of the early seasons of the 1970s sitcom Happy Days, a poster for The Tin Star is seen at a movie theater. (This would seem to be a continuity error, as an early episode of the show is set around the 1956 United States presidential election, and the film wasn't released until 1957. However, Happy Days was mostly set in the generic "Fifties" rather than in any particular year.)

• List of American films of 1957

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Tin Star.

• The Tin Star at IMDb
• The Tin Star at Rotten Tomatoes