Western Films: The Golden Age Part 2: Bad Day at Black Rock (1956) Directed by John Sturges

It’s 1945, decades since the train last stopped in Black Rock, and the town remains much as it was during its Old West heyday. But on this day, a mysterious one-armed Spencer Tracy steps onto the platform and wants to know how to get to Adobe Flats. Why? He’s not saying. The town’s tough guys, who look like they wandered in from a John Ford casting session, try to rattle him. Is he a detective? A Fed? The one thing he makes clear is that he is not a man to be messed with.