A surprisingly intense B drama, this isn't your typical western. In fact, I would venture to say that this is not really a western at all, but a social drama about how religious extremism destroys rather than cures the ailing soul. A part of wagon train that disappeared decades before turns up under the desert sun where elders of the village (Wade Boteler, Frank McGlynn Sr. and Ward Bond) dominate the community with their severe punishment for sin, basically prohibiting anybody from leaving.
When outsider Buck Jones, who is out searching for his missing father, comes across the village, the town elders view him with suspicion and basically keep him away from the community under guard until they can determine if he "brings sin" to their village. Jones witnesses from the confines of his cabin the cruelty of their ways when they give ten lashes to a young man over alleged offenses, and learns all about the town from the gentle old man Harry Todd and the sweet Cecilia Parker, sister of Buck Black, the unfortunate young lad being whipped. Jones finds himself up against the elders whose religious beliefs know absolutely nothing about compassion or understanding, and this brings about a very tense confrontation which reveals the truth about Jones' father.
This movie is not about bashing religion. It is only out to expose cult like religions that focus on fear, not faith, and indicates that the town elders decided to split off from the doomed part of their wagon train simply by a vision one of them saw in the sky, determined to recluse themselves from the evils of the world around them. While a lot of the photography is dark with much of the story set at night, it fits right in with the moody emotions of the story, and makes some very good insights into some of the dark religious groups of America's early days, creating a film that really strikes a nerve.
2 out of 2 found this helpful