I love this movie so much

What makes it different from others?

Excellent adaptation.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

This is a convoluted and often frustrating tale of claims jumpers ruthlessly hopping from threat to threat (and killing them anyway) that seems to be too determined to keep a constantly tense pace which ultimately causes its downfall. It has great color photography and a great set-up, but there are far too many characters written with too many clichés, but often takes some fascinating, sinister turns. The real reason to watch this movie is Audie Murphy, photographed with sort of a shining light around him that makes his already shiny black leather jacket seem to shine in the darkness seen constantly around him. Howard Hughes' former protégé, Faith Domergue, plays a well dressed, well spoken young lady who suddenly strangles a wounded man to death, yet remains sugary sweet throughout the film. She's striking in her beautiful period dresses, but its easy to see why she quickly faded away. Susan Cabot scores better as the tough Dusty whom several of the men think of basically another one of the guys, but occasionally see through her tomboy looks as being a true woman. Stephen McNally is more the traditional hero, and even though Murphy gets top billing, the best photography and the girl, McNally's character is really the moral compass of the film. Other than an early film appearance by Lee Marvin, the other supporting characters all seem to jumble together.

"Big Steal" director Don Siegel's first western outing, "Duel at Silver Creek," bristles with gunfights galore, posses of dust-raising horsemen, and a hefty body count. Decorated World War II veteran Audie Murphy co-stars with Stephen McNally and Faith Domergue. Lee Marvin lurks on the periphery as a minor supporting character while perennial bad guy Gerald Mohr portrays the chief villain who leads a gang of homicidal henchmen. Friendship, deception, intrigue, and betrayal emerge as the major themes in this briskly-paced, 77-minute, Technicolor, horse opera that doesn't wear out its welcome. "Armored Car Robbery" scenarist Gerald Drayson Adams and "Buccaneer's Girl" scribe Joseph Hoffman have fashioned an interesting sagebrusher that takes advantage of several film noir elements. First, leading lady Faith Domergue is a murderous siren who takes McNally for a ride. Second, the McNally lawman provides the narration and endures the paranoia that comes with getting crippled by a bullet. "Duel at Silver Creek" was among the earliest westerns that used the gimmick of the gunman who had trouble pulling the trigger. This theme would become a convention during the 1950s. Third, the Silver Kid is a black, leather-coat clad trigger-happy gambler out for revenge that the McNally lawman exploits because he cannot reveal his own dark secret without jeopardizing his life. Indeed, while most of the action occurs during the day, a murder takes place at night. Nevertheless, "Duel at Silver Creek" could be classified as a film noir western.Against a vigorous montage of murder and mayhem, the narrator (Stephen McNally) establishes the conflict in "Duel at Silver Creek." He begins: "For some time there'd been reports about a vicious gang of claim jumpers who'd been forcing miners to sign away their claims through fear of torture or death. The claims were then transferred to one of their own men or were sold to innocent miners who had just arrived in the territory and were looking for new claims to work. These claim jumpers were smart enough not to try to grab some of the bigger mines where there might be enough men working to put up a fight. Usually, they picked on claims being worked by one or two men. And the more defenseless these men were, the better the claim jumpers liked it. Their plan was simple and foolproof, because nobody knew who they were. Since their victims either disappeared, or were found dead, there wasn't anyone who could put their finger on these jumpers. Working a claim became a might dangerous business for any miner because no one knew when or where they'd turn up next." Two miners are shot dead in cold blood by the claim jumpers. Luke Cromwell (Audie Murphy of "Comanche Creek") and his father have just made a gold strike when the claim jumpers ride up for their next foray. "There's enough dust there to blind a man. The jubilant father proclaims, "Looks like we staked one with some pay dirt this time, son!" The father beams with joy. "Now, you can buy all the silver you want. You won't have to go around playing poker for it." Rod Lacey (Gerald Mohr of "Invasion, U.S.A.") sends two men to ambush Luke after he rides away. Luke thwarts the two ambushers.McNally resumes his narration: "Then old man Tompkins struck it rich a few miles north of Silver City and the jumpers moved in and killed him. As usual, they made a clean getaway, but this time they left a trail I thought we could follow and as I was Marshal of Silver City, I decided to get up a posse to track them down." Marshal Tyrone's mentor, Dan 'Pop' Muzik (Griff Barnett of "Cass Timberlane"), wants to serve as marshal for Tyrone while the marshal is out with the posse. Tyrone leaves him in charge of Silver City. The posse runs down the claim jumpers, but Tyrone catches a slug in his right shoulder. The posse continues their pursuit, while Tyrone recuperates at Fort Lowell. He meets Opal Lacy (Faith Domergue of "Where Danger Lives") before she takes a stage to Silver City. The authorities bring a dying man to Fort Lowell and Opal offers to assist the physician. She sends the wounded Tyrone off on an errand. After the two men leave the man with Opal, she strangles him quickly.Later, she tells Tyrone that she is heading to Silver City to help her brother, Rod, run his mining business. When Tyrone returns, he learns that Pop was gunned down at night in the back. Immediately, Tyrone suspects the culprit in Pop's murder is a Mexican gunman named Johnny Sombrero (Eugene Iglesias of "The Brave Bulls") who has been a burr under his saddle. Rod provides Johnny with an alibi, and Opal suggests the killer may be the Silver Kid. "They say the Silver Kid is awfully fast with his guns," she warns Tyrone. Instead of arresting the Silver Kid (Audie Murphy), Tyrone deputizes him because he knows that he needs a fast gun to back him up.Opal strings along Tyrone. They call each other Brown Eyes and Lightning and he falls for him lock, stock and barrel. The Kid and Tyrone have an on-again, off-again relationship because he tries to convince the marshal that Brown Eyes is treacherous. Eventually, Tyrone learns about Brown Eyes' treachery. Initially, Tyrone believes that the Kid betrayed him when he informed Johnny about his inability to pull the trigger. The surprise ending where one of the heroes shoots the other one in the arm is clever, and Siegel and his writers ramrod a lot of exposition down our throats under the circumstances. Although Silver Creek is never seen, one character describes the setting for the finale as located near Silver Creek. Evidently, Universal Studios decided to bank on a sizzling, tell-all title like "Duel at Silver Creek" rather than something like "Duel near Silver Creek." The flavorful dialogue, especially the exchanges between Murphy and McNally, is quite good.

For a B-Western, this film is very entertaining. I'm surprised that it is rated --as of today-- only 6.1 at IMDb. What more do they want for a B-Western?There are quite a few negatives. Worst of all are the terrible clichéd names given to all the characters: Johnny Sombrero, Rat Face, Silver Kid, Tinhorn, Lightning, etc. Worst of all was "Brown Eyes," the name McNally kept calling Domergue. Every time he called her that, my teeth would grind and my eyes would look up in disgust. ... ... ... As bad as the names are, the characters themselves were mostly one dimensional figures, but I guess you have to expect that in a B-movie. Another problem with the characters is that their relationships developed so quickly -- for example, McNally hooking up so quickly with Domergue, and Murphy so quickly agreeing to become a deputy. Finally, much of the dialog and action seemed clichéd, macho and immature, like the insults given by Marvin and Sombrero, the quickness to form a lynching party, Murphy's poker playing philosophy; almost every line in the movie was trite. And I almost forgot: Johnny Sombrero's outrageous dress, and speech, made his scenes look like a gay comedy. Murphy's black leather outfit was a hoot too. ... ... I was disappointed in some of the unbelievable plot twists, the two that I remember best are: (1) that Domergue (who genuinely loved Mohr) would lead the good guys to Mohr's hideout; she didn't have to do that; very unwise; and (2) that Johnny Sombrero would turn on (give information harmful to) Domergue (whom he loved) in his dying confession (just because she was mistaken about McNally's trigger finger health?).After all of the above, you might wonder why I liked the movie overall. The good points were; the high production values, good direction, swell color cinematography, the good actors, lots of action, and mostly that the story moved along quickly, and was quite interesting plot-wise, especially in the last third. Though some did not, I liked McNally's narration.Both McNally and Domergue impressed me with their acting and presence. Domergue's murder of the wounded outlaw was striking, never saw that before in a Western -- very nourish.

The Dual At Silver Creek is a very entertaining western from the early fifties,the main stars are Stephen Mcnally and Audie Murphy. The story is about a Marshal{Mcnally} who is out to stop a murderous gang who have killed one of his friends and are also terrorising and killing local miners.Because the Marshal has lost the use of his trigger finger he hires the help of a sharp shooter named the Silver Kid{Murphy}.Along the way the marshal has fallen for a classy but treacherous new lady in town named Opal who is really working for the bad men,she makes out she loves the marshal,but we all know different and will he see through her in time? For a B movie Dual At Silver Creek is highly entertaining,its one of those films that id seen years ago as a kid but couldn't remember properly,and viewing it today it actually seems better. Some of the scenes are actually seem quite campy now days especially whenever the bad character Johnny Sombrero and chums appear,and then there's Audie Murphy{who does look very attractive}is dressed in black leather,say no more. I've often read reviews on Audie Murphy films and people often describe his acting as stoic,wooden,bland etc which i think is a bit harsh,{okay he wasn't Bogart or Tracy}but i feel he was competent enough for these sort of films and he more than holds his own in this one, viewed today he doesn't seem any worse than a lot of other actors who by todays standards over acted. One of my favourite scenes in the film is between Murphy and Lee Marvin at a poker table, where Marvin makes some rather insulting and bitchy remarks to Murphy and its really quite funny to watch.You don't see much of Marvin but when you do he more than makes you aware that his in this film he did have a strong screen presence and you wonder why he wasn't given bigger parts earlier on in his career.Faith Domergue is also very good as the treacherous and scheming Opal or Brown Eyes as the marshal calls her. Dual At Silver Creek is a good way to waste about 80 minutes its a fun movie.