''Four Faces West'' is a 1948 American

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film starring

Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he bec ...

, his real-life wife

Frances Dee Frances Marion Dee (November 26, 1909 – March 6, 2004) was an American actress. Her first film was the musical ''Playboy of Paris'' (1930). She starred in the film ''An American Tragedy (film), An American Tragedy'' (1931). She is also known ...

, and

Charles Bickford Charles Ambrose Bickford (January 1, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor known for supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' The Song of Bernadette'' (1943), '' The Fa ...

. It is based on the novel ''Pasó por aquí'' by Eugene Manlove Rhodes. Its plot concerns a down-on-his-luck cowboy who robs a bank. For its genre the film is unusual in that not a single shot is ever fired.

Plot

Ross McEwen quietly robs a bank in the New Mexico town of Santa Maria, taking the banker Frenger with him, then letting him go a few miles away, minus boots but with an I.O.U. for the $2000 he has taken. When he gets back to town, Frenger offers a reward of $3000, dead or alive.

Pat Garrett Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett (June 5, 1850February 29, 1908) was an American Old West lawman, bartender and U.S. Customs, customs agent known for killing Billy the Kid. He was the Sheriffs in the United States, sheriff of Lincoln County, New Me ...

, the new marshal, warns the bounty hunters against unnecessary shooting, particularly in the back. McEwen is bitten by a rattlesnake before he can board a train, where he is helped by a passenger, nurse Fay Hollister. The posse stop the train and search it, but quick thinking on McEwen's part (masquerading as the sleeping Hollister's husband, complete with fake baby) and a vague description of the robber save the wanted man. However, Monte Marquez, a gambler passenger, observes and overhears enough to figure out what McEwen has done. The train tracks are washed out near Albuquerque, so the small group goes off alone via a route used to deliver mail. Fay finds out a posse from Santa Maria is after a wanted man and recalls that is where McEwen came on board. But he and she have developed an attraction to each other. When they reach an Alamogordo saloon that Marquez's cousins run, a cattleman named Burnett is willing to take on McEwen as a hired hand. Garrett and deputy Clint Waters come to town, so McEwen must leave, but offers her an engagement ring. Fay rides along, but ends up separated and captured by Garrett's men. After crossing the desert with difficulty, McEwen comes across a Mexican rancher named Florencio, whose family is ill. He stays to help and starts a fire to signal the lawmen, needing their assistance. Marquez gets there along with Garrett and Fay, but because Florencio is another relative of his, pretends that McEwen is a total stranger. Garrett is not fooled, though, and McEwen is convinced to turn himself in, the marshal promising to vouch for his good deed.

Cast

as Ross McEwen *

as Fay Hollister *

Joseph Calleia Joseph Calleia ( ; born Joseph Alexander Caesar Herstall Vincent Calleja, August 4, 1897 – October 31, 1975) was a Maltese-born American actor and singer on the stage and in films, radio and television. After serving in the Merchant Navy (Un ...

as Monte Marquez * William Conrad as Sheriff Egan * Martin Garralaga as Florencio *Raymond Largay as Dr. Eldredge *John Parrish as Frenger * Dan White as Clint Waters *Davison Clark as Burnett * Houseley Stevenson as Anderson *George McDonald as Winston Boy *

Eva Novak Eva Barbara Novak (February 14, 1898 – April 17, 1988) was an American film actress, who was quite popular during the silent films, silent film era. Biography On February 14, 1898, Eva Barbara Novak was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Jos ...

as Mrs. Winston * Ethan Laidlaw as Deputy (uncredited)

References

External links

* * 1948 films American black-and-white films Films based on American novels Films based on Western (genre) novels 1948 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films Films directed by Alfred E. Green Cultural depictions of Pat Garrett Films scored by Paul Sawtell 1940s American films English-language Western (genre) films {{1940s-US-Western-film-stub