The common man, in this respect a Whaler from Sweden, versus slick and soulless Capitalists. The greedy, rich Men representing the System can purchase fancy attire, and expensive and flashy weapons of destruction. But our lower class type of an immigrant sod buster dresses in plain clothes and is forced to use the tools of his trade to defend his honor and exact revenge.There are no subtle representations here and it is all framed like Artful arrogance and what this stylish B-Western presented is nothing less than one of the most unique and classy Proletariat Pictures from a decade that was full of mediocre meanderings from others by the wagon load.This Norish Western was the last for an unsung B-Movie Master Joseph H. Lewis and his underrated work was missed but not forgotten among Film Historians and Movie Lovers. This is not as good as The Big Combo (1955) or Gun Crazy (1950), but very few Films are. He was great at entertaining and messaging with a flat out frenzy of style and pomp that made His Movies, and this one is certainly no exception, quite different and much better than most.

This strange, surreal film is unique among westerns of the era. While it contains most of the standard western clichés, every cliché has a twist. The music is bizarre and often doesn't seem to fit, but that just adds to the offbeat feel. The acting is odd but perfectly suited to the film. Hayden's take on a Swedish accent and speech patterns bounces from realistic to annoying to non-existent, but his performance is excellent, as is Cabot's. The story is riddled with moral dilemmas that give it surprising depth. Don't be fooled into thinking this is just another B western. This movie has a quality that is difficult to describe. Strangely great.

Didn't know this was scripted by Dalton Trumbo , or by someone on his behalf let's say, due to the circumstances which surrounded the guy during the 50's. His script here is not particularly impressive , plot is quite dull indeed ,typical revenge history focused on the clash between the righteous and noble country boy and the hired gun whit conscience troubles who knows that the end of the road is getting closer for him . We have seen this history a million times , so accomplishments of this films are mostly on the visual side, the way it was beautifully shot in black and white , relying on the dark ambiances to make up for the lack of budget ...Lewis definitively knew how to do that . The whole tone of hopelessness and deception given to the film reminds me a bit of Ow Box Incident ( but that was a much better film ) The impression I get after having seen this is that with a tighter script the outcome could have been much better , ( for instance why Sterling and his father are using an harpoon ? it appears this was the only weapon they could find but it's clear that there are people in the village who have guns and ammunition …ok maybe it's just a symbol )Sterling never was a hell of an actor let's admit it. He was quite solid and managed to complete dozens of good films throughout his career but when it comes to acting he was not specially skilled .He knew to play though characters which made him a perfect choice for film noir and westerns , but don't ask him for much acting , his presence was enough . Problem here is that he had to play a Swedish character and his accent is a bit ridiculous , but his impressive presence and his stiff face contribute a lot to the elegiac tone of the film .

This is a pretty standard run of the mill western...good guy versus bad guy.It had way too many clichés to be considered a good film but it is watchable if not too much else is on at the time.The film is sort of mis-titled,I didn't see too much 'terror' ,just a whole lot of standard oater stuff.Sterling Hayden is quite good has a Swedish man who comes to America to a small town in Texas after his father is killed there.Hayden comes to the USA to inherit his fathers' land but finds out that the local mean big wig is buying up all the land and he has the local sheriff on his side to convince people they should pack up and move.The big meanie,played by Sebastion Cabot,also has a gunslinger,dressed in all black and black must be terribly hot in summertime in Texas, that helps convince the locals to give up their land to Mr.French.Of course Cabot ain't playing Mr.French in this movie ,but to this kid who grew up in the 1960's watching "Family Affair" he will always be Mr.French. Anyway the big Swede don't take too kindly to anyone pushing him around and he soon runs afoul of the local bad guys who want his land.The movie isn't too bad nor too good.It just sort of plods it's way along to the predictable conclusion although I will give it points for being at least a little bit original in the final showdown.You'll see a few familiar faces besides Hayden and Cabot...some of those faces you'll remember from TV shows like "The Andy Griffin Show" and "Green Acres".This movie was OK .I gave it a 5.But honestly if I catch it on AMC again I'd probably flip on by it.It's good enough to see once but not nearly good enough to sit through twice.