More noted for his mistery and crime fiction, Elmore Leonard began his career writing a number of highly polished westerns. His first to reach the screen was a short story, The Captives, which appeared in «Argosy». […] On the screen, the story became The Tall T, one of the films in the Budd Boetticher- Randolph Scott cannon. However, Burt Kennedy’s script must also come for its share of praise. Despite the forced comedy at the beginning, once the plot takes over and Brennan (Randolph Scott) and the others are captured, the suspence builds steadily to a satisfying climax. Kennedy did an excellent job translating Leonard’s story, keeping all the plot complications intact. However, the director did shift the emphasis just slightly, and in doing so, created a classic confrontation between good and evil, a confrontation that is often clouded in shades of gray rather than the traditional black and white.

Jim Hitt, The American West from Fiction (1823-1976) into Film (1909-1986), Jefferson, McFarland, 1990