On the same tier as stuff like The Searchers and Johnny Guitar but in its own grimy pushing-the-Hollywood-B-movie-to-new-heights way. The studio system had pretty strict parameters and expectations that led to a lot of the same boring stuff in genre films; with so much talent floating around it's a shame there weren't more like this. Ulmer's style is probably the grittiest in old Hollywood but at its heart this is quite fond of humanity, which gives it an edge in my book. Its emotional moments resonate, its insights are consistently valuable, and it's stuffed to the brim with beauty and oddity. Vies with Rancho Notorious for Arthur Kennedy's best performance too.
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