(Anthony Mann, US 1950, 92 min., 35mm)
“It seems that when the Winchester people are turning out these here guns, every so often, maybe one gun out of evert ten or twenty thousand, well, it comes out just perfect…. So the Winchester people have given it a name. They call it ‘One out of a Thousand.’ That is a good name.” It is one of these prized weapons that is the focus of this ambiguous western, interweaved with the story of Lin McAdam, tracking down an elusive man from his past. As the rifle changes hands multiple times, Lin comes ever closer to a face-off with Dutch Henry Brown (Stephen McNally) as they chase each other from Kansas to Texas. William Daniels’s cinematography paints the west as a land of shadows, either overcast as much as it is sunny, or with plenty of hiding places behind rocks and buildings. The supporting cast includes Dan Duryea, Rock Hudson, Shelley Winters, John McIntire and Tony Curtis.