Three Hours to Kill

Alfred Werker had directed a number of lower budget noir films (He Walked by Night, Shock) when he brought his talents and a dark sensibility to this western-themed drama. Donna Reed (Ransom!), Dana Andrews (Where the Sidewalk Ends), and Dianne Foster (The Brothers Rico) star in this revenge story of a cowboy wrongly accused of murder. Strung up by an angry lynch mob, he escapes with the scar of the noose around his neck. In order to prove his innocence, he's determined to hunt down the real killer. Newly remastered.

THREE HOURS TO KILL is a "message" Western that manages to entertain without preaching. Jim Guthrie (Dana Andrews), unjustly accused of murder, is forced out of town by an angry mob. After several tough years living off the land, Guthrie returns to clear his name. Fearing that Guthrie is out for blood, the townsfolk arrange a "necktie party." The one person who might show some compassion is ex-fiancée Laurie Mastin (Donna Reed), who'd been left pregnant by Guthrie and had married another man on the rebound. But Laurie's brother was the murder victim, so she's just as determined to rid the world of Guthrie as everyone else. With the help of sympathetic Chris Plumber (Dianne Foster), Guthrie traps the real murderer. The mentality of mob rule is exposed for all its ugliness in THREE HOURS TO KILL, ironic in that real-life Hollywood had been governed by mob pressure to enforce the Blacklist during the same period.