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  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Originally, the stranger was the marshal's brother and may still be; the script was changed to leave it up to the viewers. The most common are the ghost of the Marshal, Death or even Satan himself. It is a fact that the Stranger does ride a pale horse...
  • Complete Monster: Stacey Bridges is a ruthless outlaw who once participated in the murder of Marshal Jim Duncan, whipping him savagely in the center of town and torturing him to death as the lawman begged for help from the corrupt townsfolk. Enraged by the betrayal of the town, Bridges returns from imprisonment. Killing the defenders of the town, he plans to burn the rest down and slaughter all the townsfolk.
  • He Really Can Act: Billy Curtis, who'd had a long career as one of Hollywood's token little people, including starring in The Terror of Tiny Town and playing a Munchkin, turns in a pitch-perfect performance as Mordecai, who becomes the film's moral center and ends up as its Ensemble Dark Horse.
  • Spiritual Adaptation: You can easily picture a shorter version of this story as a western-themed Twilight Zone episode.
  • Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: This is definitely one of the most nihilistic mainstream Hollywood films ever made. The Stranger is a rapist and a multiple murderer, the bandits are sadistic torturers, and every single one of the townsfolk, save Mordecai, are selfish, apathetic assholes. There are almost zero characters remotely worth rooting for in the film, and those who are worth sympathy are dead or non-entities before the movie hits its halfway point. How much you end up liking the film basically comes down to how compelling you find the central mystery of who The Stranger is supposed to be and how much you appreciate the Genre Deconstruction it's engaging in.

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