Nicholas Ray, one of America's most original filmmakers, directs Joan Crawford in a western! What a scary thought! Surprisingly, Crawford delivers one of her most thoughtful, risk-taking performances and appears to be right at home on the range as the defiant Vienna in Ray's visually stunning (filmed in Trucolor) 1954 classic. Crawford's Vienna is a dangerous woman. She is feared by the townfolk for her intelligence, disliked for her arrogance and envied for her impending wealth-her saloon is located near the frontier settlement's future railroad depot. Vienna can sling a gun or ride a horse as well as any man and hold off a mob with lynching on their minds while dressed in a frilly white ball gown. Vienna's nemesis in this big-budget Republic Pictures western isn't a man but an aptly named woman, Emma Small, played with wild-eyed abandon by Mercedes McCambridge. Symbolism is rampant throughout the film, which is often dismissed as high camp but has become a strong anti-McCarthy parable.-Doris Worsham (It is interesting to note that Crawford demanded her role be rewritten so that she had the "male" lead.)