Coroner Creek

1948 "Brutal! Breathtaking Drama!"
6.6| 1h30m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 01 July 1948 Released
Producted By: Columbia Pictures
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A man is bent on taking revenge on those responsible for his fiancée's death.

Genre

Western

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Coroner Creek (1948) is now streaming with subscription on Starz

Director

Ray Enright

Production Companies

Columbia Pictures

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Coroner Creek Audience Reviews

Raetsonwe Redundant and unnecessary.
ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.
Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.
Portia Hilton Blistering performances.
Alex da Silva Randolph Scott (Chris) is out to avenge the man responsible for the death of his fiancée. He has a description of the man responsible and so his search begins. That man is George Macready (Miles) who is now living as top dog in the town of Coroner Creek. Scott arrives and plays a tactical game.The problem with the film is the path that Scott pursues to take his revenge. I'm all for a bit of revenge - it can be very satisfying. Why doesn't he just get on with what he came for instead of namby-pambying around with psychological warfare. He gets involved with too many people. Henchman Forrest Tucker (Ernie) gives him a good fight but there is no way Scott would have defeated him with the use of only one arm. Unrealistic nonsense. So, the film loses a point. I also found Macready an unconvincing bad guy - he's too angelic looking.It is filmed in colour which makes a change for 1948 but the process only seems to have brought out oranges and greens. Everything is orange, browny-orange, orangey-brown and green. The film is ok to watch but I was a little disappointed and it includes a far-fetched ending with dodgy shooting that ties everything up conveniently. I'm off to but a new orangey-brown outfit but not sure what colour it will go with. I'll try green.
Marlburian When I saw that British TV was screening an unfamiliar 1948 Randolph Scott Western, I assumed it would be one of his less exciting films in black and white - it's his later efforts that are usually shown. In the event, I was pleasantly surprised; it was shot in good quality colour that showed the outdoor scenery to advantage and the plot was better than in most contemporary Westerns (though not up to that of Red River, released the same year). Several of its features bring to mind later, better known, films.Scott looks thinner than we are accustomed to see him, almost haggard, which suits him in the role of a driven man seeking vengeance for the death (and presumed rape) of his woman; this reminds one of Rancho Notorious and Scott's own Ride Lonesome. He has a very violent fist fight with Forrest Tucker (less weather-beaten than in later films), with the two men viciously stamping on each other's gun hands - a forerunner of James Stewart's fate in The Man from Laramie. And when Marguerite Chapman overcomes her religious scruples to come to the aid of her man, one thinks of Grace Kelly doing the same in High Noon.George Macready makes a sinister villain and Edgar Buchanan is in his familiar role as a half-good, half-bad guy - and he doesn't growl as much as usual.There are some unconvincing touches. When Scott rides into his enemy's town the citizens stare after him in a weak attempt to suggest that they sense that nemesis has arrived; this was better done by Burt Lancaster in Lawman and by Clint Eastwood in many of his films. Yet minutes later this supposedly sinister stranger is entrusted with driving a drunken, attractive woman home. And it's not giving anything away in a Western of this (or almost any) era to say that the villain gets what he deserves, but his precise way of dying is unrealistic.On the other hand we are spared the sight common in Scott's later Westerns of an actor in his fifties (Scott was born in 1898) romancing someone half his age; indeed the love interest throughout is very low key, with the emphasis being on Macready's failed marriage.All in all it's a good, enjoyable film to watch.
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.
bsmith5552 "Coroner Creek" marked a departure for Randolph Scott in the character he plays. He usually played square-jawed righteous heros with a clear set of moral values. In this film he plays a character bent solely on revenge, even to the point of almost shooting the villain in the back as he tries to escape. He is driven by hate and has few if any redeeming qualities. Scott is on the hunt for the person responsible for his fiance's death. He finally tracks him down in the town of Coroner Creek and sets out to force a final showdown. True to the Hollywood Production Code of the day, Scott's character sees the error of his ways at the end. "Coroner Creek" boasts an excellent cast. George Macready plays the chief villain in a cold, cruel and calculating manner. Marquerite Chapman is the nominal heroine who tries to get Scott to change. Sally Eilers as a rancher and Barbara Read as Macready's alcoholic wife are the other female characters. Edgar Buchanan plays the spineless sheriff who eventually finds his courage and Wallace Ford plays Scott's only real friend and ally. The rest of the cast is made up of many veterans of "dusters" both of the "A" and "B" variety. On the wrong side of the law are Forrest Tucker, Douglas Fowley and Joe Sawyer. On the right side of the law are Russell Simpson, William Bishop and Forrest Taylor. Charlie Stevens appears as (what else?) an Apache who provides Scott with information on the killer. And if you look close you'll see Joe DeRita (of the Three Stooges) and Dewey Robinson as bartenders. "Coroner Creek" was a grim, realistic western for its time. Don't miss the brutal encounter between Scott and Tucker about half way through the film.