Editing Randolph Scott (section)

===Post–World War II career===
[[File:Abilene Town 1946 (2).jpg|thumb|With Jack Lambert in ''Abilene Town'', 1946]]

In 1946, after playing roles that had him wandering in and out of the saddle for many years, Scott appeared in ''[[Abilene Town]]'', a [[United Artists|UA]]<ref>Gritten 2008, p. 8.</ref> release which cast him in what would become one of his classic images, the fearless lawman cleaning up a lawless town. The film "cemented Scott's position as a cowboy hero"<ref>Nott 2005, p. 15.</ref> and from this point on all but two of his starring films would be [[Westerns]]. The Scott Westerns of the late 1940s would each be budgeted around US$1,000,000, equal to ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|1000000|1946|r=-5}}}} today. Scott mostly made Westerns for producers [[Nat Holt]] or [[Harry Joe Brown]] at [[Warner Bros]], although he did make ''[[Albuquerque (film)|Albuquerque]]'' (1948) at Paramount.

''The BFI Companion to the Western'' noted:<blockquote>In his earlier Westerns&nbsp;... the Scott persona is debonair, easy-going, graceful, though with the necessary hint of steel. As he matures into his fifties his roles change. Increasingly Scott becomes the man who has seen it all, who has suffered pain, loss, and hardship, and who has now achieved (but at what cost?) a stoic calm proof against vicissitude.<ref name="BFI"/></blockquote>

====Non-Westerns====
Scott's last non-Westerns were a mystery with [[Peggy Ann Garner]] at Fox, ''[[Home Sweet Homicide]]'' (1947), and a family drama for Bogeaus, ''[[Christmas Eve (1947 film)|Christmas Eve]]'' (1947). He also had a cameo in Warners' ''[[Starlift]]'' (1951).

====Nat Holt====
Scott did two Westerns for Nat Holt at RKO, ''[[Badman's Territory]]'' (1946) and ''[[Trail Street]]'' (1947). He followed it with another pair for Holt at that studio, ''[[Return of the Bad Men]]'' (1948) at RKO and ''[[Canadian Pacific (film)|Canadian Pacific]]'' (1949), then they did ''[[Fighting Man of the Plains]]'' (1950) and ''[[The Cariboo Trail]]'' (1950) at Fox.

Scott also made ''[[Rage at Dawn]]'' in 1955 for Nat Holt, which was released by [[RKO Pictures|RKO]] starring Scott and [[Forrest Tucker]], and featuring [[Denver Pyle]], [[Edgar Buchanan]], [[J. Carrol Naish]] and [[Myron Healey]]. It purports to tell the true story of the [[Reno Gang|Reno Brothers]], an outlaw gang which terrorized the American Midwest, particularly in the area around [[Seymour, Indiana]], soon after the [[American Civil War]].

====Harry Joe Brown====
Scott renewed his acquaintance with producer [[Harry Joe Brown]] at Columbia with ''[[Gunfighters (film)|Gunfighters]]'' (1947). They began producing many of Scott's Westerns, including several that were shot in the two-color [[Cinecolor]] process. Their collaboration resulted in the film ''[[Coroner Creek]]'' (1948) with Scott as a vengeance-driven cowpoke who "predates the [[Budd Boetticher]]/[[Burt Kennedy]] heroes by nearly a decade,"<ref>Nott 2005, p. 29.</ref> and ''[[The Walking Hills]]'' (1949), a modern-day tale of gold hunters directed by [[John Sturges]].

They followed it with ''[[The Doolins of Oklahoma]]'' (1949), ''[[The Nevadan]]'' (1950), ''[[Santa Fe (film)|Santa Fe]]'' (1951), ''[[Man in the Saddle (1951 film)|Man in the Saddle]]'' (1951), ''[[Hangman's Knot]]'' (1952), ''[[The Stranger Wore a Gun]]'' (1953) (shot in 3-D), ''[[Ten Wanted Men]]'' (1955), and ''[[A Lawless Street]]'' (1955) (with [[Angela Lansbury]].)

====Warner Bros.====
Scott did ''[[Colt .45 (1950 film)|Colt .45]]'' (1950) at [[Warner Bros.]] where his salary was US$100,000 per picture (equal to ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|100000|1949|r=-5}}}} today). He stayed at the studio to do ''[[Sugarfoot (film)|Sugarfoot]]'' (1951), ''[[Fort Worth (film)|Fort Worth]]'' (1951), ''[[Carson City (film)|Carson City]]'' (1952), ''[[The Man Behind the Gun]]'' (1953), ''[[Thunder Over the Plains]]'' (1953), ''[[Riding Shotgun (film)|Riding Shotgun]]'' (1954), ''[[Tall Man Riding]]'' (1955) Most of these were directed by [[Andre de Toth]].
Also of interest is ''[[Shootout at Medicine Bend]]'' shot in 1955 but released in 1957, which was Scott's last movie in black and white. The movie co-stars [[James Garner]] and [[Angie Dickinson]].<ref>Gritten 2008, p. 1071.</ref>

====Boetticher and Kennedy films====
[[File:Nancy Gates and Randolph Scott in Comanche Station.png|thumb|upright=1.3|With Nancy Gates in ''[[Comanche Station]]'', 1960]]

In 1955 screenwriter [[Burt Kennedy]] wrote the script ''[[Seven Men from Now]]'', which was scheduled to be filmed by [[Batjac Productions]] with [[John Wayne]] as the film's star and [[Budd Boetticher]] as director. However, Wayne was already committed to ''[[The Searchers (film)|The Searchers]]'' with [[John Ford]], and suggested Scott as his replacement.<ref>Nott 2005, p. 131.</ref> The resulting film, released in 1956, did not make a great impact at the time but is now regarded by many as one of Scott's best, as well as the one that launched Scott and Boetticher into successful collaborations on seven films.<ref>{{cite web|website=Trailers From Hell|first=Glenn|last=Erickson|url=https://trailersfromhell.com/the-ranown-westerns-4k/|title=The Ranown Westerns 4K|date=August 12, 2023|accessdate=August 17, 2023}}</ref>

While each film is independent and there are no shared characters or settings, this set of films is often called the Ranown Cycle, for the production company run by Scott and Harry Joe Brown, which was involved in their production.<ref>Wilmington, Michael. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-11-29-ca-2438-story.html "Tall in the director's chair Budd Boetticher made some of the best-remembered westerns of '50s and '60s; they don't make 'em like that (or him) anymore."] ''Los Angeles Times,'' November 29, 1992, p. 4.</ref> Kennedy scripted four of them. In these films&nbsp;...
<blockquote>Boetticher achieved works of great beauty, formally precise in structure and visually elegant, notably for their use of the distinctive landscape of the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|California Sierras]]. As the hero of these "floating poker games" (as [[Andrew Sarris]] calls them), Scott tempers their innately pessimistic view with quiet, stoical humour, as he pits his wits against such charming villains as [[Richard Boone]] in ''[[The Tall T]]'' and [[Claude Akins]] in ''[[Comanche Station]]''.<ref name="BFI"/></blockquote>

After ''[[7th Cavalry (film)|7th Cavalry]]'' (1956), Boetticher, Kennedy and Scott were reunited for their second film, ''[[The Tall T]]'' (1957), which co-starred [[Richard Boone]]. The third in the series was ''[[Decision at Sundown]]'' (1957), although that script was not written by Kennedy. The unofficial series continued with ''[[Buchanan Rides Alone]]'' (1958). ''[[Westbound (film)|Westbound]]'' (1959) is not considered part of the official cycle, although Boetticher directed it. However the last two, both written by Kennedy, were: ''[[Ride Lonesome]]'' (1959) and ''[[Comanche Station]]'' (1960)

====Last film: ''Ride the High Country''====
In 1962 Scott made his final film appearance in ''[[Ride the High Country]]''. It was directed by [[Sam Peckinpah]] and co-starred [[Joel McCrea]], an actor who had a screen image similar to Scott's and who also from the mid-1940s on devoted his career almost exclusively to [[Westerns]].

<blockquote>Scott and McCrea's farewell Western is characterized by a nostalgic sense of the passing of the Old West; a preoccupation with the emotionality of male bonding and of the experiential "gap" between the young and the old; and the fearful evocation, in the form of the Hammonds (the villains in the film), of these preoccupations transmuted into brutal and perverse forms.<ref name="BFI"/></blockquote>McCrea's role in the film is slightly larger than Scott's, although arguably less colorful, but Scott was billed above McCrea after the director tossed a coin over top billing that came up favoring Scott.