But before the smitten sheriff manages to pin the goods on this cowtown Mata Hari, "Duel at Silver Creek" has frittered away as just another Western, loud and grim, with a stale corn kernel for every flying bullet. There’s enough action, and it moves along quickly enough, that it’s hard to fault the movie for anything. Set in the town of Silver Creek, it seems like there's a lot that goes on beneath the surface all the time. The Duel at Silver Creek is a 1952 American Western film directed by Don Siegel; his first film in the Western genre. Participating in the proceedings are Faith Domergue, Susan Cabot and Eugene Iglesias, who gives the film's best performance.

However, that doesn't make this any less enjoyable of a film because Siegel throws in a lot of shootouts and chases to make it all exciting, while the Technicolor photography is sumptuous and the story has enough twists and cool characters to make it work. A band of ruthless claim jumpers invade the local area and begin robbing, extorting, and killing miners who have struck it rich. Luke manages to find out that the marshal's girlfriend is really one of the gang and exposes her and her brother as the real killers. I know there hasn't been that many new releases during the pandemic, cinematic visits have been scarce, with cinemas closed for long periods of time and studios holding back films to make the most from their investment.He is deputised by Marshal Lightning Tyrone ( Stephen McNally) of Silver City, who wants to defeat the claim jumpers.

The screen play written by Gerald Drayson Adams and Joseph Hoffman familiarly stacks the motivations and incidents and, unfortunately, blunts some picaresque possibilities.

When Marshall 'Lightning' Tyrone takes a party after the gang he leaves old timer Dan Music as Deputy of the town.

I came to this film on the basis of it being Don Siegel's first western and the first film he made in colour. The prettiest, Miss Domergue, not only dresses to the ears but, as one of the chief culprits, is not above garroting a wounded man to death.I don't know what surprised me the most, a western directed by Don Siegel and such a clean one (in the sense it is not very gritty and it follows the plot points of most westerns of the 50's) or the fact that Lee Marvin once had hair which was not white. This Audie Murphy vehicle has the feel of a B-Western, but would it be in Technicolor if it was cheap? That all combines to make The Duel at Silver Creek a solid little Western that uses the conventions of the genre well in a swift and colourful manner. Alone with McNally, Domergue vamps him into forgetting his job…In a sense, McNally’s gun had abandons him by becoming lame after an injury, leaving him more open to assault.