Jubal Troop is a cowboy who is found in a weakened condition, without a horse. He is given shelter at Shep Horgan's large ranch, where he quickly makes an enemy in foreman Pinky, a cattleman who accuses Jubal of carrying the smell of sheep.
Acting
Rod Steiger's Pinky is sweaty, pathetic villainy perfection.
Direction
Daves frames desire like violence about to happen.
Writing
Othello in chaps, and it absolutely works.
Director
Delmer Daves
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Delmer Daves called this his 'Othello on a ranch,' and Rod Steiger studied Shakespeare's Iago specifically for Pinky's paranoid spiral.
The 'smell of sheep' insult wasn't in the script—Ernest Borgnine improvised it, and Steiger's genuine flinch made the take.
US
