From Tag Gallagher’s Book:

“The mood is sad, lonely, and bitter, puncuated by isolated exchanges of smiles. Here already is John Ford’s dark world of meanness, isolation, and sadness, dappled with short exchanges of eyes – a melodramatic world of evil against goodness. The hero is a man who kills for a living, without emotion, until one day, he sees that killing is wrong. Then, like Paul on the road to Damascus, he changes.”