‘Ten Wanted Men’: The End of the Trail

This Randolph Scott film reflects the changing tone of the classic western.

John Stewart (Randolph Scott) is a rancher with a violent past who wants to go straight, in “Ten Wanted Men.” Columbia Pictures

NR | 1h 20m | Romance, Western | 1955

Westerns have always loved a good second chance story of men with checkered pasts trading in six guns for fence posts. These men could be former outlaws going straight, hired guns trying to settle down, or ranchers learning how to raise cattle without shooting the neighbors. The genre thrives on rough men trying to reinvent themselves. “Ten Wanted Men” (1955) contributes to the “maybe I won’t shoot first this time” school of westerns.