 The cast includes Kirk Douglas, Dewey Martin, Elizabeth Threatt and Arthur Hunnicutt, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.Though not considered among Hawks's major achievements by most critics, the film was chosen by Jonathan Rosenbaum for his alternative list of the Top 100 American Films.In 1832, Jim Deakins (Kirk Douglas) is travelling in the wilderness when he encounters an initially hostile Boone Caudill (Dewey Martin).