This professor is a drooling moron. Palance played a gun for hire. Alan Ladd's character most resembled a modern neighborhood watch captain.
True, Palance was a stone cold hit man.
Next time you watch the movie, notice Palance getting on his horse in the town scene, when he swings his leg over the saddle at (Shane?) it is a powerful example of an actor using his body to say a page of dialogue.
When he mounts that saddle, it is the biggest body language F***Y*U, that I have ever seen in real life or film..