Decision at Sundown

Bart Allison has spent three years searching for Tate Kimbrough, the man he holds responsible for his wife's death. He arrives in the small Western town of Sundown with his friend Sam, and the timing could hardly be worse: Kimbrough, the area's wealthiest and most powerful rancher, is about to be married. Bart confronts him and makes clear that he has come to kill him, then he and Sam take refuge in the local livery stable. What begins as a private vendetta turns into a wider standoff, as the townspeople gradually shift their sympathies toward Bart and against the man who has dominated Sundown for years.

Budd Boetticher directed the film, working from a screenplay by Charles Lang, with Harry Joe Brown producing. It was the third in the run of Westerns Boetticher made with Randolph Scott, following 7 Men from Now and The Tall T and preceding Ride Lonesome and Comanche Station, and it shares their focus on a determined man pursuing a personal goal. Scott plays Bart, with John Carroll as Tate Kimbrough, Karen Steele as Lucy Summerton, Valerie French as Ruby James, Noah Beery Jr. as Sam and John Archer as Dr. John Storrow among a credited cast of 28. The film runs 78 minutes. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.8 from around 3,900 votes, while on TMDB the rating stands at 6.3 from a much smaller number of votes.