The Tall T is more than the sum of its parts. A Western aimed squarely at adult audiences, Budd Boetticher's 1957 film elides a fatalistic view of the old West by appearing classical at a glance. It marks the second collaboration between Boetticher and lead actor Randolph Scott's "Ranown Cycle" of films. Ranown was the name of Scott's production company, and while the duo's first collaboration, 1956's Seven Men From Now, was not technically produced by Ranown, it inaugurated a run of low budget Westerns that would withstand the test of time and become highly influential. The Tall T, being the first official entry in the cycle, lays everything out in a lean, mean package. The technicolor visuals feel of a piece with classical Westerns of the era, but the content, largely owing to its origins as an Elmore Leonard short story, is bleak and provocative. The film navigates this dissonant tone economically,...