Audie Murphy is a great western star. His appearance is non-threatening, so all the ruffians mistake him for someone they can push around, but when he wants to, he can get a look in his eyes that would make most people hesitate to cross him.

In Ride Clear of Diablo, he's mistakenly assumed to be a good stooge for the badguys. But he keeps coming back from impossible missions alive and successful. Dan Duryea plays one of the badguys (who laughs a lot). As the film wears on, they form an uneasy partnership. Their relationship is one of the high points of the film. The grit in the action and suspense scenes is one of the others.