The Tin Star

Name: The Tin Star
Genre: Western
Released: 1957-11-06
Duration: 1 h 33 min
Rating: 7.3
Cast: Henry Fonda, Anthony Perkins, Betsy Palmer

1957
Approved
1h 33m

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

6.9K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer2:10

1 Video

86 Photos

Classical Western Western

A cynical former sheriff turned bounty hunter helps a young, recently appointed acting sheriff with his advice, his experience and his gun.A cynical former sheriff turned bounty hunter helps a young, recently appointed acting sheriff with his advice, his experience and his gun.A cynical former sheriff turned bounty hunter helps a young, recently appointed acting sheriff with his advice, his experience and his gun.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

6.9K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 2 nominations total

Trivia
James Stewartwas originally supposed to play Morgan Hickman.

Goofs
In the opening scene, Hickman rides into town with a "body" on his pack horse. The dead man's arm is exposed, show bulging veins. This was obviously a live stunt man or an extra. Dead men don't have bulging veins. No heart beat, no blood pressure.

Quotes
Morg Hickman:A decent man doesn't want to kill, but if you're gonna shoot, you shoot to kill.
Sheriff Ben Owens:How about hittin' them in the arm?
Morg Hickman:That hokey-pokey'll get you killed fast. There're a lot of guys bragging about shooting a gun out of somebody's hand. They're lying. They shot to kill. A wounded man can still kill you.
Sheriff Ben Owens:*You* did it.
Morg Hickman:Huh?
Sheriff Ben Owens:With Bogardus. You hit his gun.
Morg Hickman:That wasn't my fight, that was yours. I could take a chance.
Sheriff Ben Owens:What if you missed?
Morg Hickman:Aw, he'd have killed you, or I'd have had to kill him.

Connections
Edited intoGli ultimi giorni dell'umanità(2022)

Soundtracks
For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
(uncredited)
Melody: "Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre"
Traditional

User reviews60

Review

Featured review

8/10

You can master a gun if you got the knack. Harder to learn men.

It doesn't matter what the genre is, when the writing is great, then the film will usually be great also. This Oscar-nominated film had a superb script that made everything else look fantastic.

Henry Fonda is an ex-sheriff turned bounty hunter that appears in town to collect his reward. He has to wait until it comes, so he ends up befriending the town outcast - Betsy Palmer (before she became Jason's mom), a woman with a half-breed child, and helping the new Sheriff - Anthony Perkins, before he went Psycho and killed his mom.

Fonda gave a measured and stirring performance in a role that was supposed to go to Jimmy Stewart. In the process of helping others, he was able to find himself and turn his life around.

In a humorous scene old Doc McCord (John McIntire) had just delivered the 12th child to a farmer that lived in the sticks. It was 2:30 am and he leaned back to sleep in his carriage and told his horse to head home saying, "You probably know the way better than I do." Now, that is the kind of cruise control we don't have on our modern vehicles! A great film that shows how important writers are to the movies.