[4] Luke Cromwell, aka the "Silver Kid" (Audie Murphy), loses his father to mining claim jumpers.

Tyrone pursues the treacherous Opal Lacey (Faith Domergue), who is secretly in league with the claim jumpers, and Cromwell falls for tomboy Dusty Fargo (Susan Cabot) who is only interested in Lightning.

[5] “The damaged, vulnerable hero and the anti-hero are facets in the same persona and cannot be separated, even when the harm is physical as in The Duel at Silver Creek.

The issue of vulnerability, of the complementary nature of good and evil, is central to the comprehension of Seigel’s films.—Biographer Judith M. Kass in Don Seigel: The Hollywood Professionals, Volume 4 (1975)[6] Quentin Tarantino called The Duel at Silver Creek "a very well conceived and executed picture, as well as being obviously a Siegel picture.

"[7] Film critic Judith M. Kass remarks that Audie Murphy is “ludicrously attired in black leather, like a Western The Wild One (1953).”[8] The Duel at Silver Creek dramatizes the perils of personal isolation and infirmity, conditions likely to prove fatal in the face of evil.