AllMovie

A surprisingly well-made attempt by low-budget company Republic Pictures to create a Grade-A Western, The Toughest Man in Arizona was geared to adults rather than the studio's regular Saturday matinee crowd. Former bandleader Vaughn Monroe may not be everyone's ideal Western hero, but he played his taciturn marshal with the same kind of weather-beaten, down-home charm usually associated with the likes of Joel McCrea or Randolph Scott in their later years. Monroe, of course, was awarded generous help from a first-rate supporting cast that included Victor Jory as the main villain, a young Harry Morgan as the heroine's cowardly husband, and former ingenue Jean Parker as a bitter saloon girl. Despite the presence of no less than four precocious child actors, director R.G. Springsteen kept the suspense alive all the way through and the climactic gun-battle, in a livery stable during one of those torrential Arizona rainstorms, is expertly choreographed with his customary sense of action and excitement.