The Tall Texan casts Lloyd Bridges as a prisoner by sheriff Samuel Herrick to trial. To save time they are cutting across Indian country in a covered wagon driven by Syd Saylor along with other passengers Dean Train and wife Marie Windsor and beached sea captain Lee J. Cobb. They pick up a wounded Indian and no good deed goes unpunished in the west as his tribe who had wounded him in the first place wants him back to finish the job.
During the attack Train is killed and the Indians are driven off. In gratitude the Indian gives them some gold nuggets and shows them where there is a lot more. Problem being that the mother lode is in an Indian burial ground. The Indians take the groups guns from them and say they can pan for gold, but not to go beyond a marker they've set down.
They're all just ordinary folks, no cowboy heroes in this bunch. But the worst of them is a bottom feeding peddler they've picked up played by Luther Adler. He's the serpent in their golden garden and he's the real cause of their downfall.
Had this film been done at a major studio it might have proved as much a classic as that other film about gold fever, Lust For Gold which Columbia did a few years earlier. Still coming from Lippert Pictures it must be counted as a miracle that it turned out as well as it did.
A nice ensemble cast gives some great performances and the nice location shooting sure helps.
Try and catch this one if it's broadcast.
