Skrupellos (1956)

Skrupellos: Directed by Jacques Tourneur. With Virginia Mayo, Robert Stack, Ruth Roman, Alex Nicol. A Confederate drifter wins a hotel-saloon at poker in Denver but two rival female admirers, local Union sympathizers, Southern gold miners and an orphaned boy complicate his life.

“An above average western, in its direction and writing rising above a fairly typical situational action picture. Stack is great as the profiteering Southerner unwillingly caught up in the foment of the Civil War, while he attempts to raise the son of the man he killed. Mayo is unremarkable as the u0026quot;goodu0026quot; woman, but Roman puts in a memorable and sincere performance as one of the townu0026#39;s many u0026quot;badu0026quot; girls. Tourneuru0026#39;s direction is what really makes this one memorable, though, from the crisp grandeur of the opening shootout at high altitudes to the concluding race with wagons through the hills of Colorado. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor Western fans, a great treat roughly in the tradition of Budd Boetticheru0026#39;s u0026quot;Ranownu0026quot; films with Randolph Scott.”