Ride Lonesome (1959)

In the past year or so, I've made a determined decision to get more accustomed to pre-1970's films from around the world, particularly genres I've previously given short change to, such as musicals, war films and westerns. I have to admit it's greatly enhanced my appreciation of cinema in general. It's amazing how great some of these films actually are.Since cinema is the greatest love of my life, I also collect books on film, trying to find out anything and everything I can. As the old Calvin Klein commercial goes, 'A man has many loves, but only one Obsession'. An unexpectedly great and relatively inexpensive find was 'The Editors of American Cowboy's The Top 100 Westerns of All Time,' from 2011. Looming at #52 was this, and its write-up sounded intriguing, so I've always kept my eyes open for it. Sure enough, last month I saw a Randolph Scott Westerns 6-pack for a very low price, and I pulled the trigger (pardon the pun).This was exceptional and clearly deserves its lofty status. There is so much action, intrigue and beauty jam-packed in Burt Kennedy's script for this 72 minutes. Every shot is finely composed and exquisitely filmed. I dare you to find a better supporting cast. Sure, the four-hour epics by the Sir David Leans and Victor Flemings out there are great, but I'd rather see a simple story, brilliantly told than the gluttonous two-to-three-hour pieces of self-important crap you find these days. Let that be my epitaph.I was so close to even giving this a perfect grade. It's honestly THAT good.

Beautifully-filmed Budd Boetticher outdoor saga, one in a series of westerns the filmmaker produced with star Randolph Scott (usually from a screenplay by writer Burt Kennedy), involves former sheriff-turned-bounty hunter attempting to bring in wanted killer across desolate Arizona terrain, inadvertently coming to the aid of shapely widow whose husband was captured and killed by Indians. Film opens with terrific desert stand-off, but rather quickly lapses into genre clichés with the arrival of two randy gunmen (Pernell Roberts and a debuting James Coburn) paying the lady a hostile visit. Aside from Charles Lawton Jr.'s glorious color cinematography, Randolph Scott's unruffled, low-key charm is really the only thing this routine adventure has going for it. Dialogue scenes are stilted, as is the male camaraderie. ** from ****

This is taut Western, filled with good phrasing and a good story, with a slight twist at the end. Ben Brigade (Randolph Scott) captures Billy John (James Best) for the bounty on his head. The twist is concerning Billy John's brother Frank (Lee Van Cleef) which I won't give away. Brigade meets up with Sam Boone (Pernell Roberts) and Whit (James Coburn) at a stage line swing station that belongs to Mr. & Mrs Lane. Mr. Lane is absent, killed by Indians, and the story basically is of Brigade taking Billy John to justice and Mrs Lane (Karen Steele) to safety, while a war party is after them and Frank and company are out to free Billy John.It's once again a simple old school Western, this one not being quite as good as "The Tall T". Katherine Steele is just a little too much eye candy that seems a bit out of place for the time period. As is customary for many western heroines of the 50's she's got a hairdo that could only be possible in a hair salon with the equipment they had in the 50's. James Best plays a part he was born for, that of the young smart-aleck killer, Pernell Roberts gives a standout performance, and Coburn plays Robert's thin as a rail sidekick Whit, in probably his first film role. Roberts and Whit play minor outlaws that are caught up in the events.Lee Van Cleef is not as effective as he could have been, but in this, as in other of his pre-Leone speaking roles, he comes off as either a hot head or a two bit outlaw. His speech and his body movements are way way too fast, but that's direction, and it seems that that was the way he was typecast for most of the fifties. Zinnerman saw his look in High Noon and kept him silent and menacing. In this film he does something so despicable that there should have been way way more buildup to to the climax, but that is of course looking at the Western with Leone colored glasses. Now this despicable act that you never actually see really doesn't work since it's thrown out way too far towards the climax. This would work better if the scenario of events was shown leading up to the act via flashbacks, giving the audience some shockers. Too late to make a long story short, the film should have been emphasizing Van Cleef as much as Scott, but that's just not Boetticher's style. To summarize, this is a great cheapie budget Western, and although the outdoor locations alone are a major part of the film, the only structures you see are the stage swing station and corrals and some abandoned ruins. More money was probably spent on stock and wranglers than art design. Again we get cowboy lore on the treatment of horses, and good Western slang. Scott is good as the man looking for revenge, and the irony involving the male characters is excellent. Scott is a good man doing a bad thing; Roberts and Coburn have done some bad things and are looking to go "good"/straight.

The 1950s was a great decade for the western. While the masterpieces may have belonged to John Ford and Fred Zinneman, the two directors that had the best body of work in the genre that decade were Anthony Mann and Budd Boetticher. These two made many great westerns with their stars of choice -- Jimmy Stewart for Mann and Randolph Scott for Boetticher. These weren't simple horse operas or mindless actioners. These westerns were smart, tense stories driven by the psychology of their characters instead of the plots, which were often deceptively simple.This film is one of the Boetticher/Scott westerns and it's one of the best. The plot, again, seems simple enough: a bounty hunter (Randolph Scott) is bringing in a killer (James Best) whose ruthless brother (Lee Van Cleef) is expected to try and stop him. Along the way he is joined by two criminals (Pernell Roberts of Bonanza fame and James Coburn in his film debut) and a beautiful blonde (Karen Steele). Roberts and Coburn join Scott in hopes of taking the prisoner themselves in return for an offer of amnesty for his capture. Scott has another reason for bringing Best in besides the bounty.Wonderful cast with a standout performance from Pernell Roberts, an actor better known for his television work. The support from Best, Coburn, and Van Cleef is nice. Karen Steele looks lovely and does fine but her brassiere is most definitely from the 1950s. You'll know what I mean when you see her. Hopefully she didn't put anybody's eye out. Scott doesn't have lots of lines as his character is the silent type. But he was an underrated actor who said a lot with very little. Great direction from Boetticher with his favorite screenwriter Burt Kennedy turning in a good script. Relatively short runtime ensures the movie doesn't overstay its welcome. It didn't feel too short at all. Fans of westerns will definitely want to check this one out.