This is a 1957 western directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott. Scott plays Bart Allison who arrives in the town of Sundown looking for revenge after three years of searching for a man named Tate Kimbrough. It’s not clear at first why exactly Bart wants revenge, though it’s hinted that it might have something to do with Bart’s deceased wife, Mary.
Kimbrough is getting married to local girl Lucy (Karen Steele) but Bart breaks up the wedding much to Lucy’s embarrassment. When Lucy suggests that Mary may have been a less than virtuous woman, she is left with more embarrassment to get over!
Scene starts at 46m 35s
Karen Steele’s first acting job was in the radio series Let George Do It (1946 – 54). In this detective comedy Bob Bailey played George Valentine, a World War II veteran returned from the war, who advertises his services as an odd job man.
The ad reads:
PERSONAL NOTICE: Do you have a crime that needs solving? Do you have a dog that needs walking? Do you have a wife that needs spanking? Let George do it. Danger’s my stock-in-trade. If the job’s too tough for you to handle, you’ve got a job for me, George Valentine. Write FULL Details.
This reflects the reality of the post war period in the US when there was a recorded upsurge in “wife spankings” attributed to returning soldiers. Thanks to JS for sending me the newspaper scan.
The Spank Statement 