I also used to like Sterling Hayden, but not so much after finding out he had been a friendly witness at the McCarthy hearings, including the naming of names. To his credit Hayden subsequently repudiated his own cooperation with the Committee, stating in his autobiography "I don't think you have the foggiest notion of the contempt I have had for myself since the day I did that thing."
    In contrast there's another very fine western directed in 1969 by Abraham Polonsky , his first movie in over 20 years after being blacklisted for being an un-friendly witness to HUAC(House Un-American Activities Committee). Coincidentally, both Hayden and Polonsky had served in the OSS (forerunner to the CIA) during WWII. "Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here" tells the true story of Paiute Indian outlaw Willie Boy (Robert Blake) who escapes with his lover, Lola (Katharine Ross) after killing her father in self defense. According to tribal custom Willie can then claim Lola as his wife. According to the law, Deputy Sheriff Cooper (Robert Redford) is required to charge him with murder. Polonsky makes it an allegory of racism, genocide and persecution.