Burt Lancaster has his name above the title as Mexican-American Marshall Bob Valdez in this unrelenting revenge western, based on the novel by Elmore Leonard. When cattle baron, gun runner, and no good bastard Frank Tanner (Jon Cypher) makes a “mistake” that gets an innocent black man killed by Valdez’s own hand, Valdez sets out to collect $100 from Tanner, that some other men in town say they will match, in order to give to the dead man’s pregnant Apache widow. For Tanner, it’s hate at first sight “you don’t horseshit Frank Tanner,” and has his men tie Valdez to a cross like a scarecrow, leaving him in the desert to die. Valdez escapes, dons his Cavalry uniform, shoots a member of Tanner’s gang off his horse (Hector Elizondo), and sends him back with the message – Valdez is Coming.
