Orson Welles owns a ranch that as he puts it, "is larger than a lot of countries in Europe." He also has the dumbest cowboys in Texas working for him. The film opens with two of them beating, Juan, one of the ranch's Mexican cow-hands to death. They were supposed to simply beat-up Juan, so that he would stop hanging out with Orson's daughter. The crime is witnessed by one of Juan's friends who reports it to the Sheriff played by Jeff Chandler. Chandler's deputy tells him not to even bother investigating the matter, but Chandler is determined to follow through on the case. Had the dumb cowboys simply gone out in the middle of Orson's enormous ranch and buried Juan it would have been difficult for even the conscientious Chandler to probe the alleged murder without a body. But one of the dumb cowboys brings in Juan's body claiming he accidentally ran over him in his truck. As Chandler digs into the case nobody in town gives him any support except for the guy who cuts his hair. In the one scene where we meet Chandler's wife even she says he should just forget it because it is not good for the town. The cowboys continue to commit a series of stupid acts making it pretty obvious that they are guilty of murder. After each stupid act is reported to Orson, he seems to show a little exasperation for being saddled in such a ridiculous story. Overall he seems rather indifferent to the movie. Chandler gives a lot of agonizing line readings, and his stunt double is thoroughly abused by the conclusion of the picture.
Review of Man in the Shadow
