Covering similar ground to the superior "High Noon", "Firecreek" finds sodbuster and part-time sheriff Jimmy Stewart standing up to Henry Fonda's crew of professional killers with no help from his fellow townsmen (expect for a mentally-challenged young man who has a target on his forehead the moment he appears on screen). The acting elevates the pedestrian material with top-billers Stewart and Fonda supported by great character actors like Ed Begley and Jack Elam. As a killer, Fonda plays against type (but not as momentously as he did in the same year's "Once Upon a Time in the West") but Stewart plays his typical soft-spoken, easy-going 'nice guy put in a tough spot'. A good but not great '60s Western highlighting old-school values that were starting to disappear from the genre with the advent of the anti-hero.
Review of Firecreek
