Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966)

I finally caught this film in its entirety on the Fox MOVIES!!! channel (or whatever they call it), and it has more than its share of compelling moments. Given the personnel and the people behind the production, one might suspect that this was a project aimed at television, except that A) it is apparently intended to be shown in 1.85-to-1 aspect ratio (irrelevant to TV in 1966) and B) it is so violent that it is difficult to believe that it could have gotten on the air without some serious cuts, and there is no way that the makers wouldn't have known this in 1966. But the director and producers were the same people behind the series BRANDED, starring Chuck Connors, which went out of production at just about the time that this movie was released.Chuck Connors plays Jonas Trapp, a proud but poor laborer in a small western town who -- as we learn from the backstory unfolded in a string of flashbacks -- married the wealthiest young woman in town (Kathryn Hays). Unable to abide the ease of their life together, or to persuade her to join him in building up a fortune of their own, he lights out for the frontier to become a buffalo hunter, and, as the movie opens (following an introductory section set in 1966), he is returning home after 11 years, carrying over a decade's worth of hard-earned cash. Alas, he has the bad luck to chance on a small encampment, seemingly abandoned, and is accused by three riders of trying to rustle the calf that is found bound nearby. The leader of this trio, Coates (Claude Akins), is drunk and a little crazy to start with, and wants to hang Trapp as a rustler; the banker Durham (Michael Rennie), talks him out of that, despite the egging on off sleazy, fancy-dan hanger-on "Johnnsy" (Bill Bixby). So instead, they put a large branded "T" on his chest and leave him for dead, and one of the trio takes Trapp's money before abandoning him. He doesn't die, however, partly through the intervention of seemingly kindly farmer Hanley (Paul Fix), who chances along to find him. Realizing what has happened to him, and seething with rage, Trapp goes into town, where all three of his attackers live. His own wife, not knowing who he is after 11 years absence, rejects him violently. But he manages to track down his attackers, one by one, over the next 24 hours, and takes revenge on each of them. But more difficult than vengeance will be any possibility of putting his life back together, not only in the wake of his maiming but also the 11 years dividing him from his wife. And complicating matters further is the fact that she was preparing to marry Durham. There's a pretty good pacing to this picture, despite having at least one foot in old-style Hollywood story-telling. And the violence, when it comes, is rather startling to see, given the vintage of this picture (could it have been intended for overseas distribution?). And director Andre Fennady has a good handle on action and narrative, so that not a huge amount of time is wasted. But -- and this is a big caveat -- the movie falls short in many ways. It's all well and good to have startling images and convincingly nasty villains of all types. But this is still a fairly flat western compared either to the Italian-financed oaters that were making their way across the Atlantic (most notably those made by Sergio Leone starring Clint Eastwood, natch). Fennady has no sense of the over-the-top dramatic nuance that made not only Leone's westerns, but also those of Sergio Sollima and other filmmakers of the era, so indelible to the viewer. The action here is just that, action, with no dramatic artistry. And Richard Markowitz, try and he might, never does come up with a sufficiently memorable soundtrack to underscore that action. This is a good try at something different in the genre -- and kind of remarkable, coming from Goodson-Todman Productions (yes, the game show guys) -- but I'd rather watch A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS or THE BIG GUNDOWN. On a more positive note, it is entertaining to see these actors in something this jarring in its viciousness, and the supporting players populating the screen: Joan Blondell, Gloria Grahame (in too short an appearance), Gary Merrill, Frank Gorshin, and Buddy Baer, along with a youngish Jamie Farr; and, in the framing sequences, James MacArthur and Arthur O'Connell.

Chuck Connors plays Jonas Trapp, a cowboy that falls in love with a beautiful, but high tone, woman Jessie Larkin(Kathryn Hays). Jessie's snobbish aunt warns her of stepping down to marry. She fakes a pregnancy to seal the deal. Jonas finally gets tired of living off of his wife's family money and decides to leave her. Trapp becomes a successful buffalo hunter and after having some wealth he wants to reunite with his wife. Its been over ten years, would she feel the same about him? Before he can find out, Jonas is warned by three men to not try and see her; he is beaten, robbed and branded before being left for dead. The buffalo hunter wants revenge and things get ugly.This movie was not well received. And it is a good chance that Connors' fans wanted more out of this western. Even a well rounded cast of named stars couldn't make the film more than a mediocre dust buster. Also featured: Michael Rennie, Claude Akins, Joan Blondell, Gary Merrill and Gloria Grahame. You will also recognize Bill Bixby, Paul Fix and even Jamie Farr as the blacksmith.

A seldom played film, this western has superb characterizations, good casting, a good story, but sometimes poor camera work and editing. Films have come a long way since the 1960s, excluding computer graphics, but different angles and lingering shots on some scenes would have brought this film to the top, both by 1960s and today's standards. It would also have increased the 100min run time. Possible cost factors for this camera work are a slightly shorter-than-needed budget and/or a short shooting schedule. Obviously some scenes show that the camera capability existed. The cast is made up of several big names with some of them having an impressive history in the profession by the time of this film's release. The camera and editing quality notwithstanding, their expertise in the art shine through.*** POSSIBLE SPOILERS *** The film contains some memorable scenes and portrayals: the angry focus of Jonas (Chuck Connors) while fighting with personal naive goodness, the latent evil within Johnsy Boy (Bill Bixby), Chuck Connors accosting Bill Bixby in the woods, the story telling in the bar by Tod (Frank Gorshin - who also played Riddler in the Batman series the same year), the clinging despair of Bonnie Shelley (Gloria Grahame) willing to do anything, Jessie's (Kathryn Hay) strong emotional rollercoaster changes, Mrs Lavender's (Joan Blondell) orbital character sketches, the borderline sanity of Elwood Coates (Claude Akins), Brooks Durham (Michael Rennie) riding along the edge of good and bad, the secret dream of Maria (Marissa Mathes) and onscreen smoking [it is still rare to see a woman in a western smoking a cigarette], Paul Fix (as Hanley) without teeth (reunited here with fellow 'Rifleman' Connors). There are others but that's enough here. *** END POSSIBLE SPOILERS ***There's also a short appearance by a fairly young Jamie Farr, a decade after his film debut and a decade before his MASH series fame.This ‘revenge' western story doesn't follow standard plot strategy so characters don't behave, and events don't progress, as one expects them to in a 'safe' storyline. This results in mixed emotional responses by the viewer, with different emotions possible on multiple viewings. There are many good things about this movie but the lacking camera work and editing keep it from rising to being a really good film. Watch it for the wonderful characters and player's performances. Pass it up for the overall screen delivery, but do so at your own risk. This film rarely plays and is not available on video as of this writing so you may wish to pop in a tape in order to catch the nuances from highly professional performance artists at their craft.

I grew up in Bay Saint Louis Mississippi.My Mother was makeup artist for the Little Theatre there(mid fifties).Under her influence I did my first role there(in my mid teens).The best character actor with the group was a man by the name of Mark Solomen.He helped coach me in my first role.At the time, he had just read what he said was the best western novel he had ever read.He ended up giving me the book. It was an original hard bound version called "Night Of The Tiger". I agreed it was a great novel even though it was the author's first attempt. At the time, I had no way of knowing that through a most unique set of circumstances I would end up launching a career in films myself(on Yancy Derringer, in 1958).Because I am a good horseman as well as a western type(6'4"anglo),by the mid sixties I was a seasoned veteran of the westerns of the era in both TV and feature films. In the early sixties I became friends with Chuck connors,and ended up working for him as standin and horseback double on some of his western projects including Rifleman, Cowboy in africa,and Branded. It was when we were doing the Branded series,and the time came for us to shut down for hiaetus.I was told we would be doing a movie with a thirty day shooting schedule in the meantime, and that I would shortly be called in to do make up and costume tests for Chuck,on lot three at MGM,with a skeleton crew. When that day came,I reported to the Paramount Sunset lot where I got into a stretch limo with all the key personnel including director, producer(Andrew Fenady),makeup artist, costumer etc. On the way to MGM the producer and director were discussing how meaty some of the main character's dialogue was. As they quoted him it began to sound familiar to me so I turned to andy(the producer)and asked what's the name of this film. I could'nt believe it when he said "Night Of The Tiger". Needless to say I related the above story to him. It turns out he had found the paperback version in a west hollywood supermarket while his wife was buying groceries. And of course he responded to the book the same as Mark Solomen had all those years earlier back home,and he went right out and bought the movie rights. On the first day of production I brought the book with me and gifted Andy with it. Andrew Fenady was one of the youngest and most brilliant producers I have ever known. In fact he and Nick adams created Johnny Yuma "the rebel". Who else could have pulled together such a cast for a "quickie" western. There can be no question but that this cast was drawn to the project by the power of the story. Imagine,Bill Bixby,Jim Mc Arthur,Claude Akins,Paul fix,Michael Renny,etc. The only thing I disagreed with Andy on was the change of title. He felt that Night Of The Tiger sounded like a jungle movie. This film remains in my top ten favorite westerns (with some of clint eastwood's spagetti westerns). It is also one of the most unique coincidences of my life.