STRANGER ON THE RUN (1967) ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Don Siegel
Henry Fonda, Anne Baxter, Michael Parks,
Dan Duryea, Sal Mineo, Lloyd Bochner,
Michael Burns, Tom Reese, Bernie Hamilton,
Walter Burke, Madlyn Rhue, Zalman King
A bum played by Henry Fonda gets thrown out of a boxcar in a dusty western town, does a little work in exchange for a shot of whiskey, and starts looking for a woman nobody seems to want to talk about. When the woman turns up murdered, the bum becomes a suspect, on the run from some railroad vigilantes who want to hang him. Dan Duryea has a good late-career role as an old gunman who functions as the posse's conscience, but there's some uncertainty in the script, especially with the Michael Parks character, a lawman whose values and motives are never entirely clear. He mumbles a lot, too. The ending could've gone in two very different directions. See if you think the filmmakers chose the right one. Made for TV.
