I didn't like it much. Its status as a canonical Western is, frankly, baffling.

Oh sure, there's some great stuff in here, most notably the mythical battle waged between Ladd's titular hero and Palance's embodiment of evil. The film is at its best when it heightens the archetypal significance these two have, such as when they silently face off for the first time on the ranch, or their final showdown. In fact, most everything about these two characters almost makes the film worth it. Almost.

The problem is that almost everything else sucks. The acting (especially the kid's Oscar-nominated [!?!?!] "performance"), the story, the ideology (I'm amazed such a blatantly communist film got past the red-fearing censors) - everything. It's just plain uninvolving and bland. When Joe drones on and on about how the homesteaders have to band together to protect themselves, I had to fight boredom and fatigue. And the constant fisticuffs the heroes engage in - talk about unintentional hilarity.

On top of that, it's just a poorly made movie. Badly shot (save for the occasional inspired moment), badly edited, badly structured. There's no John Ford vistas or Howard Hawks drama to be found here; it's just a (admittedly strong) allegory hidden under a left-leaning morality tale with a thin covering of pure Hollywood cheese. And I didn't like the taste.

Plus that kid is fucking awful. Seriously.