The footage is long and often slow, with the really high spots of action rather scattered.

The Kentuckian, though its plot is almost tenuous and its action slight, is a long and ambitious kind of Western.

In general the direction tends to get bogged down in not very interesting characters and relationships while neglecting to deliver the action.

An occasionally brutal, but generally plodding western from Lancaster (his first as a director), who fails to pump much life into the anemic script, giving the cast little to do.