Ride a Crooked Trail (1958)

the cast makes difference in this case. the story, the end, the little tricks are old ingredients of genre. and performance, it can be only correct because it represents only part of machine. so,for not to be another western, this film search be a different game. the nice Audie Murphy gives all necessary nuances to his bad guy with good soul, Eddie Little represents ideal spice for a story of masks, using the Puck place and remembers from Lassie, but the key of film are Gia Scala in a splendid role and , sure, Walter Mathau.and this is the secret of this little film - the balance between humor and drama, the expected events in soft package. in same measure, good occasion to remember the "roots" of Henry Silva.

This was a good Westrn, pretty much of a formula Western of Hollywood from 1950 to 1990, in which the hero begins as a bad guy. One wonders if a Western hero could ever have started out good to be a Hollywood hero. The answer is "no". Murphy plays an outlaw who assumes the identity of a lawman whom he sees fall off a cliff. He becomes a celebrity in a town where the law in a roguish judge played by Walter Mattheau. The movie is more of a showcase for him than anything, and he does brilliantly. People who know who Audie Murphy really is show up with ulterior motives, and Murphy finds himself in the middle. No doubt, most people will find the main character's part a bit formula, but likewise, most people will enjoy Mattheau very much. A lot of likable aspects to this story. Not packed with gunplay, but there are several guns going off. Enough action to keep 98% of the audience interested. Lots to like.

i really enjoyed this western as i always liked audie murphy westerns. also a great performance by walter matthau as the crusty old judge. also gia scala is great as the bad girl with a big hearti wish they would show this, other audie murphy movies and all the 50's westernsfrom universal-international on tcm. also what do we have to do to get these great old western from universal on DVD? "ride a crooked trail" rates up there with me with "the cimmaron kid" "night passage" "the duel at silver creek" and the "unforgiven" as audie's great westerns. they put out old black & white westerns from the 30's and 40's from other studios but why don't they put universal's great color westerns from the 50's out on DVD

RIDE A CROOKED TRAIL is an Audie Murphy western distinguished by good writing and a flamboyant early role for Walter Matthau as a silver-haired, hard-drinking, shotgun-toting judge in a growing river town. It has surprisingly little action for a Murphy western, but it's consistently engaging thanks to a group of interesting, well-etched characters, a strong cast, some welcome humor, and a script by western veteran Borden Chase (WINCHESTER '73, BEND OF THE RIVER, THE FAR COUNTRY, BACKLASH, etc.).Murphy was always at his best when surrounded by solid co-stars and here he's got Matthau as a persistent father figure; Gia Scala as a femme fatale ripe for reform; and Henry Silva as an outlaw gang leader. Murphy plays a wanted outlaw himself who is mistaken by Matthau for a missing marshal (who'd fallen off a cliff while pursuing Murphy) and soon has to assume the functions of the marshal's office in order to keep up the charade and escape detection. When Scala gets off the riverboat from New Orleans, she recognizes Murphy and calls him by his real name, "Maybe," forcing Murphy to cover up by telling Matthau Scala is his wife. But Scala is there to case the town's bank for Silva, so she has to act the respectable lady for a few days till Silva and company come to town. Both she and, later, Silva expect Murphy to help with the bank job. After a while, Matthau starts to get suspicious, even as Murphy begins to grow comfortable in the marshal's job. Added to the mix are a precocious orphan boy (Eddie Little) and a dog who, true to form, gradually tug at Audie's and Gia's heartstrings.Murphy seems more relaxed here than usual. Perhaps he was grateful for the opportunity to turn the more attention-getting dramatics over to Matthau. Murphy also has good chemistry with Scala, who is quite attractive and confident here in a way that looks forward to Isabella Rossellini (who played a similar role in Lawrence Kasdan's WYATT EARP, 1994, with Kevin Costner). Joanna Moore (mother of Tatum O'Neal) makes an attractive saloon girl. Mort Mills has a small, vivid part as one of Silva's gang and his appearance will be enjoyed by those who recall him as Charlton Heston's sympathetic colleague in TOUCH OF EVIL the same year and as the highway patrolman who stops Janet Leigh in PSYCHO.Most of the film was shot in a western town set on the Universal Pictures backlot, although a few chase-and-cattle scenes take place on location late in the film. It's a relatively light-hearted film for screenwriter Chase, who wrote or co-wrote so many harder-edged westerns, but it turns out to be among the best of the roughly two dozen westerns Murphy made at Universal.