Fuller’s first feature as a director (after a long career as a screenwriter/scriptdoctor) is already a pretty special film. The Fuller style – powerful close-ups, bold action(including a punch straight into the camera leading Godard to dub Sam – KINO-FIST) and a strong rhythm in the cutting. The tone of the film is unusual, it’s very elegiac and melancholy missing the trademark Fuller sense of humour. John Ireland gives a great performance in his only leading role as Robert Ford who shot Jesse James for the money and has to live all his life with the burden of killing the man he loved. Of the three Fuller Westerns, this is the most conventional and straightforward but it’s a great film nevertheless.