Is it a western/film noir mash-up, a subtly coded red scare-era warning, or a a heart-on-its-sleeve anti-racism morality tale? It definitely has a little of each, but is there enough of any to give Spencer Tracy’s oddly elderly WWII veteran a big enough stage to convince a desert town with a shameful secret to inspire a nation to live up to its principles? Not if Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, and Lee Marvin have anything to do with it.

If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) and Karel Zemen’s The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962).