Michael Morrison Randolph Scott is always enough to warrant high praise and a high rating, but he is backed up with one of his best casts and his best director, Budd Boetticher.Westerns often have revenge as a motive, but not very often in this vein.Also not often does a Scott-Boetticher Western have so few people with any redeeming qualities. Or, perhaps, so many people with few redeeming qualities.This is a true "adult" Western, with too many people acting from poorly thought-out plans and not very moral or ethical plans.The story, plot, characterizations are all first class, and the performers are all first rate, with some of the best Western performers here not even receiving credit.Bob Steele comes first to mind. He was always a good cowboy, and he became a top-quality actor the longer he was around. In "Decision," he has several appearances, always standing out, but never has a line.Guy Wilkerson was, to the best of my knowledge, never a name above the title, but here he has an important role, helping move the action along, helping frame the story, but, again, not given credit.Noah Beery, Jr, already a veteran by this filming, usually played such a sympathetic character the audience's liking spilled over to the actor. But beyond being sympathetic, he expressed emotions and attitudes beautifully. He was an actor!Karen Steele is billed third, but her character was never totally explained, through no fault of her own, and the fourth-billed Valerie French not only had a more fully fleshed out character, she portrayed it more vividly, with a superb performance of a strong and memorable woman.John Carroll too often played a cad or at least caddish character. He was a good-looking and very talented actor, and even a good singer, in earlier roles. He was, in fact, so good-looking and, even as a villain, sympathetic, sometimes it was hard to accept him fully as evil.One of the marks of a good movie is a large number of important characters, many performers with speaking parts. "Decision at Sundown" is crammed full of such, and all more than ably performed.Richard Deacon will probably always be best known as the hapless brother-in-law to the comedy performer on "The Dick Van Dyke Show," but he did much, much more, and well.James Westerfield, "Otis" the bartender, is another very familiar face, and nearly always a strong performer.Andrew Duggan was another good-looking guy and often a bad guy, but here he is as a sheriff, a strong and assured character.There are two director errors, one perhaps questionable, the other really inexcusable.Maybe three: Karen Steele is, again, as was so often true of films of that era, outrageously padded. On her it looked OK, not grotesque, but it was distracting and unrealistic.Scenery, cinematography, editing, and even the music score round out this excellent movie, which is available at YouTube. I recommend it.

talisencrw This may not be as strong as other Scott/Boetticher Westerns, such as 'Buchanan Rides Alone' or 'The Tall T', but it's very strong, and would make a great double bill with 'High Noon'--another fine flick about someone being brave enough to stand against the tide of local cowardice, and get things done in cleaning up the town's garbage.This is very unique in that Scott's character, Bart Allison, is determined for revenge, three years in the making, for the bad guy seducing his wife (who ended up killing herself in disgrace). He seemed to think his wife had the moral fiber not to do that sort of thing willingly--unfortunately, the entire town, even his best friend, seems to know otherwise.A great look at the lengths some will go to right wrongs they come across in life. Allison's dismay at the community for allowing another wrong to happen, midway through the picture, is something that haunts and stays with you, long after the film concludes. I would have given this a higher rating, aside from an obvious, amateurish mistake that happens around ten minutes into the film, when one of the women talks, but an arm from one of the actors completely occludes her mouth, straight through her entire spiel. It's a minor thing, perhaps, but I'm very surprised no one caught it by the time it was released, especially a director of Boetticher's stature.

MartinHafer Towards the end of his career, Randolph Scott did something rather risky for a film hero--but it did pay off in some terrific films. In "Decision at Sundown" and "Ride the High Country", Scott played a character who wasn't exactly a good guy--but a more complex man filled with good and bad. I liked this because although I love Randolph Scott westerns, there is a certain sameness to many of them--a certain formula. Seeing the formula upset a bit is a big plus for this film.The movie begins with Scott and his friend (Noah Beery, Jr.) coming to a town where a wedding is about to occur. Just before the bride and groom are joined, Scott shows up and announces that the wedding must stop AND that he plans on killing the groom because he deserves to die! Personally, this seemed rather stupid as the town, not unexpectedly, is quite sore at him. However, their reaction is even more severe--they chase the two men into a building and threaten to kill them if they come out into the streets! Eventually you learn two things. First, Scott is angry at the groom (John Carroll) because Carroll was cheating with Scott's wife. However, through Beery, you also learn that Scott's wife was no angel--and Carroll was not her first affair! Second, you learn that Carroll and his sheriff pretty much control the town...and slowly the townspeople start to question what is now happening--especially after Beery is shot down AFTER he peacefully leaves and steps out of the fight! To see what happens next, try watching the film--you'll be glad you did.With director Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott...how could this film help but be terrific?! Not their best together, but awfully close.

poe426 What a quandary: a Budd Boetticher western that takes place within the city limits, for one thing (as opposed to where it should've transpired, like among a stand of trees or an outcropping of rock or a lean-to); three women (more than you can shake a six-shooter at, two of them still kicking, one long gone); talkative townsfolk (and plenty of them, too, crowding into every shot and babbling their fool heads off); a villain who hasn't really done anybody wrong (which makes Randolph Scott's "vendetta" seem, in retrospect, more than a little wonky); a 1950s television sensibility that permeates the whole thing (thanks to some uninspired lighting and cinematography)... For the very first time since I happened across 7 MEN FROM NOW, I was disappointed by a Boetticher western. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this one was the exception to the rule.