"You know what I said after that? I said, 'When you get back from the clinic, go into wardrobe and call me. You got the part.' "
Seven Men from Now (1956), the first of the Ranown films, featuring Marvin as a scene-stealing baddie, isn't included in the MFA lineup. (Neither is Westbound, a 1958 Scott-Boetticher collaboration that the director dismisses as a minor effort, unworthy of inclusion in the canon.) But the retrospective does feature the following:
The Tall T (7:30 p.m. Friday, June 8) -- Ramrod-turned-rancher Pat Brennan (Scott) and copper mine heiress Doretta Mims (Maureen O'Sullivan) are held captive by a sly stagecoach bandit (Richard Boone) and his thick-witted cohorts, while Doretta's cowardly husband seeks a ransom from his wife's wealthy father. A nice touch: The bandit refrains from killing Brennan primarily because he's desperate for intelligent conversation. But their budding friendship is soured by the bandit's determination to start a new, more respectable life with the ransom money. (1957)
Decision at Sundown (9 p.m. Friday, June 8) -- Easily the most downbeat of the Ranown westerns. Bart Allison (Scott) rides into Sundown to kill the tyrannical town boss, whom he blames for his wife's suicide. Thanks to his crusade, just about everybody, including the villain, gets a shot at redemption. (1957)
Buchanan Rides Alone (7:30 p.m. Friday, June 15) -- In a small Tex-Mex border hamlet run by a corrupt family, Tom Buchanan (Scott) befriends a young Mexican who avenges his sister's honor by fatally shooting the spoiled son of a politically ambitious judge. The judge is more than willing to free his son's killer in return for a hefty campaign contribution. But the money can't be held by anyone for very long -- and thanks to Buchanan, neither can the killer. Almost, but not quite, a black comedy, Buchanan has an understated but richly satisfying flavor of self-parody. (1958)
Ride Lonesome (9 p.m. Friday, June 15) -- The best of the cycle finds bounty hunter Ben Brigade (Scott) bringing a captured outlaw (James Best) across Indian territory. Two semi-reformed bandits (a pre-Bonanza Pernell Roberts, whose insouciant preening suggests a Wild West version of WWF's The Rock, and a callow James Coburn) want to wrest control of Brigade's captive in order to claim an amnesty offered for their past crimes. But Brigade isn't interested in amnesty, or even a reward. Rather, he wants to lure the outlaw's older brother (Lee Van Cleef) into a forced feeding of just desserts. (1959)
Comanche Station (7:30 p.m. Friday, June 22) -- The final chapter is a straightforward western drama with an affectingly melancholy aftertaste. Jefferson Cody (Scott), obsessed with finding the wife who was kidnapped by Comanches more than a decade ago, barters with Indians for the release of another white woman (Nancy Gates), the wife of a man who has posted a huge reward for her dead-or-alive return. Hearty outlaw Ben Lane (Claude Akins) tries to muscle in on the transition, but Cody won't be dissuaded from competing his chivalrous task. He remains true to himself, even though his noble gesture brings him no nearer a closure. The ending suggests he will never stop searching. Which, of course, makes him the paradigmatic Budd Boetticher hero. (1960)
