Prime Video’s New Western Is More Brutal Than ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’

Prime Video is bringing attention to *Frontier Crucible*, a Western written by S. Craig Zahler, known for *Bone Tomahawk*. The film blends a measured, old-school Western with stark frontier violence, offering viewers a grittier alternative to more conventional Westerns.

Merrick Beckford, an ex-soldier and loner played by Myles Clohessy, is hired by the U.S. Army to deliver medical supplies to San Carlos, Arizona. He takes aboard a group of travellers after an attack, including a critically injured man and three passengers whose trustworthiness is uncertain. Directed by Travis Mills and based on Harry Whittington’s novel *Desert Stake-Out*, the film was shot in Arizona and released the previous year; its violence is disturbing, though the article says it does not reach the extreme level of *Bone Tomahawk*.