"The hard man" is an exciting little B western where a fast gun deputy is confronted to the despotic rich Lorne Greene, who has some geat nasty lines. There are a lot of sleazy details, rather uncommon in westerns. Guy Madison is very charismatic as a gunslinger. Sherman's direction is competent, with efficient editing. Don't miss that Guy Madison / Lorne Greene confrontation.

This is a better western than some made in the 50's. Guy Madison is good as the reluctant fast gun. Lorne Greene (pre-Bonanza) is excellent as a thoroughly ruthless land baron. Valerie French is pretty. Myron Healy who has been in countless pictures is not even credited but is the reason for Guy Madison to go to the town where Lorne Greene is the boss. Madison does a good job of showing how a lawman can sometimes be as ruthless as the outlaws if not careful. He is forced to kill his friend and then finds out the friend may have been framed as a killer. He rides to the town where his friend committed the crime and runs into a lot of road blocks (most notably Lorne Greene's character) as well as a beautiful woman that he is not sure of.

Guy Madison plays the title role in The Hard Man, a rather ruthless deputy sheriff who prefers to bring in his fugitives draped over the saddle. Saves a lot of judicial proceedings that way. But when an old friend he's sent to track down tries to outdraw him, Madison is forced to shoot Myron Healey who's been accused of murder. Before Healey dies he gives Madison a convincing story he was framed.

Shooting down a friend who may have been innocent sends Madison off to a nearby town looking for answers. All lines of inquiry lead to cattle baron Lorne Greene and his wife Valerie French.

I don't think Lorne Greene was cast as Ben Cartwright in Bonanza on the strength of this role. Greene's a mean one here, a guy who has increased his herd through rustling and he's got a nice batch of gunfighters on the payroll to keep questions to a minimum.

However Valerie French who played Ernest Borgnine's unfaithful wife in Jubal plays exactly the same kind of part here. She's looking for a way out of her marriage, one way or the other. Both these issues figure prominently into why Healey was killed.

The Hard Man is a nicely done adult type western with some solid performances by Madison and the rest of the cast. With some bigger name players this film would be more known, but I can't fault anyone either behind or in front of the camera for their work.