The Walking Hills (1949)

Directed by John Sturges. Starring Randolph Scott, Ella Raines, Arthur Kennedy and Edgar Buchanan as Old Willy!

Sturges assembles a great group of actors for this contemporary noir western taking place in then current times of 1949. The presence of Randolph Scott and Edgar Buchanan keep it firmly rooted in the genre but the whole approach is more adult and sinister than the B-movie programmers the stars were known for.

The movie opens on a group of people playing cards in the back room of a border town. Each character has a shady past that they are trying to run away from. When they discover the local folklore of buried treasure in the sand dunes may be true they decide to sneak into the Mexican desert at night and begin to dig. Eventually secrets, emotion and a sand storm threaten to tear everything apart.

Terrific looking black and white photography give this western a wonderful noir inspired look. Made before HANGMAN'S KNOT this truly seems like the first step Randolph Scott would take toward making a more mature western film, eventually coming to fruition in the movies he did with Budd Boetticher. At 78 minutes this is every bit as good, IMO.

Guitarist, singer, songwriter Josh White is on hand as part of the group of treasure hunters. White sings and plays guitar while they dig, when they eat and when they're just standing around at night. It's the perfect kind of blues that you need when you are in the middle of a desert digging for gold.

 

Ride Lonesome (1959)

Directed by Budd Boetticher, starring Randolph Scott, Karen Steele, Pernell Roberts, Lee Van Cleef, and introducing James Coburn as Whit!

"A man could do that."

The apex of Budd Boetticher / Randolph Scott Ranown pictures. COMANCHE STATION (1960) may have come after and even though it's very good it just isn't as perfect as RIDE LONESOME. 

*SPOILERS* In RIDE LONESOME Randolph Scott plays "Ben Brigade", a man who captures Billy John (James Best), to use him to exact revenge on his brother Frank (Lee Van Cleef) for killing his wife. Along the way he saves a woman, played by Karen Steele, from an Indian attack at the station she was working. Two outlaws tag along played wonderfully by Pernell Roberts and James Coburn in his big screen debut. They quickly discover Karen Steele's husband to be dead so all three join together to evade the Indians. Roberts and Coburn ride along in with the hopes of turning on Scott to use Billy John as their way of gaining amnesty.

SHOOT IT IN LONE PINE!

The film opens on location amid the beautiful rocky hills of Lone Pine! Randolph is colder and more rugged than ever before. The loss of his wife has eaten away at him, he is a shell of a man hell bent on revenge. It's great! Karen Steele lights up the screen, the affection of every Indian Chief and outlaw around. She falls for Randolph but he is still grieving for his long lost wife. 

Once again the outlaws steal the show. Pernell Roberts and James Coburn are a riot. They are the heart and soul of this film. In the previous films 7 MEN FROM NOW and THE TALL T the outlaws are friendly with Scott but in the end he is forced to take them out. RIDE LONESOME switches that convention, this time allowing them to actually become friends and earn their happy ending. Their plan of double crossing Scott never has a chance to come to fruition. In the end Scott accepts his sadness and allows the two outlaws a chance of a better life, one that he can never have. The villains Billy John and his brother Frank played by Lee Van Cleef are easily dispatched by Scott. James Best is great as the weasely "Billy John", but if the movie has one fault it's the amount of screen time for Lee. It is much too short, his character could have used a touch more fleshing out. But that's a minor nitpick in an otherwise perfect film.

The Tall T (1957)

Directed by Budd Boetticher - starring Randolph Scott, Richard Boone, Maureen O'Sullivan, Henry Silva and Skip Homeier (as Billy Jack)!

"Cherry Striped Candy."

With those words by "Pat Brennan" (Randolph Scott) a sunny tone is set, and for the first act the antics are kept humorous and light. Scott meets with a Station hand and his son and the young boy excitedly asks Scott if he could pick up some candy for him during his trip to town. Once in town Randolph rides a bull and loses his horse in a good-natured bet. Jumping into the drinking trough just to avoid getting gouged! Scott grabs his saddle sans horse and walks outta town. 

*SPOILERS* Along the way he hitches a ride from a newlywed couple played by John Hubbard and Maureen O'Sullivan, the daughter of a big-time ranch baron. The husband having only married O'Sullivan for her father's money. At the station they find out that the owner and the boy have been killed and their bodies dumped in the well by thieves played by Richard Boone, Henry Silva and Skip Homeier. The tone immediately shifts from light-hearted to grim and gritty. Eventually the husband attempts to make a deal that lets him leave to go to his father-in-law to bring back ransom money in exchange for his wife. He's really only doing to save himself and happily leaves his wife behind, leaving Scott to come up with a plan to save him and the wife. Patrick Boone's character begins to take a liking to Scott seeing him more as an equal than the two grunts he rides with. In the meantime sexual tension between Maureen O'Sullivan and Randolph Scott begins to rise.

Shot in Lone Pine!

Budd continues to get his low budget money's worth by filming in the rocky hills of the wonderful Lone Pine location. Once settled in the story mostly takes place in a small area, the cave where they are keeping Scott and O'Sulivan captive and outside the cave where the bandits have a small camp set up. It's so simple it could practically work as a stage play. It's all framed up beautifully.

THE TALL T is adapted from the original story "The Captives" by Elmore Leonard and it builds on the template of 7 MEN FROM NOW providing Randolph Scott with a wife of a weak willed man to fall in love with, and ultimately save the day for. Maureen O'Sullivan is understated in her performance as the plain looking wife who is eventually brought out of her shell by the sexual energy between her and Randolph.

The villains all continue to shine, all three character actors feel like a real danger yet at the same time enough back story is given to keep them from being one-dimensional goons. Again you can almost see Scott and Boone being friends had things been different. Henry Silva is a riot as usual, just completely chewing up the scenery. Skip Homeier is great as the dim-witted Billy Jack, Skip also appears later in Budd's COMANCHE STATION (1960) to great effect.

At 78 minutes it's a great short B-movie western, it doesn't get any better than this.

Seven Men from Now (1956)

Directed by Budd Boetticher - starring Randolph Scott, Gail Russell, Lee Marvin and Walter Reed

Randolph Scott plays 'Ben Stride', a sheriff whose wife was killed during a Wells Fargo robbery. He's in pursuit of the thieves and their loot when he happens across a troubled married couple (Gail Russell and Walter Reed). He helps them get their wagon unstuck from the mud and in the process begins to find himself drawn to the wife.

The three eventually meet up with Lee Marvin, who's in pursuit of the stolen loot. He knows Scott's history and who he really is, he also picks up the attraction Scott has for Russell and begins to make things unbelievably uncomfortable for the two of them, and her milquetoast husband.

SHOOT IT IN LONE PINE!

This is the film that kickstarted the Ranown film cycle, the collaborations between Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott. And also Burt Kennedy, who is as equally an important part of the formula. This movie and the films that followed changed the landscape. They were westerns that weren't just about cowboys and Indians, but rather they were about characters and relationships. They were about our flaws and imperfections. The villains weren't always so bad and the heroes had issues. Budd had small budgets but the look of these films are all first class, shot on location in LONE PINE, the setting ties them together giving them a kind of visual continuity.

 

Randolph Scott is great, playing a less smiley character than usual and more of a tortured soul. Gail Russell is the perfect Budd/Scott love interest. Karen Steele may have more pin-up girl appeal, but Gail has a magnetic charged sexuality. Her sap of a husband is admirably played by Walter Reed. It's a thankless role but he really sells himself as a fish out of water in over his head in this new frontier full of men who know how to take charge and survive.

But it's Lee Marvin who steals the show as a sketchy foil for Scott who is after the stolen loot. The screen can barely contain him. From the moment he steps into frame he oozes charm. You'd wish he was friends with Scott instead off being at odds with him, a theme that runs through the best Boetticher /Scott collaborations (The Tall T, Ride Lonesome, Comanche Station).

Hangman's Knot (1952)

Directed by Roy Huggins - starring Randolph Scott, Lee Marvin, Donna Reed, Claude Jarman Jr., Frank Faylen and Richard Denning

A group of Confederate soldiers led by 'Major Matt Stewart' (Randolph Scott) rob a Union gold shipment and kill all the men. The last soldier tells them with his dying breath that war was over a month ago, the South lost and now they'll be pegged as murderous robbers. With a group of deputies after them they hijack a stagecoach and take the passengers hostage in a station house. They find out the deputies are really bounty hunters after the gold and they're prepared to kill everyone to get it. Including the hostages!

SHOOT IT IN LONE PINE!

Lean at 81 minutes the film opens in rocky Lone Pine! but quickly settles into a single room for the rest of the movie. **SPOILERS** Lee Marvin in an early role plays 'Rolph Bainter' a trigger happy soldier who's at odds with Scott, eventually leading to a great fist-fight where Scott falls in the fireplace and they both tear the house apart. Donna Reed is 'Molly Hull' a nurse for the Union engaged to 'Lee Kemper' (Richard Jenning), a real jerk who only looks out for himself. Claude Jarman Jr. is 'Jamie' a young member of Scott's gang who's yet to kill and has to grow up quick. Clem Bevans runs the Station with his daughter, her son recently killed by Confederate soldiers, she despises Scott and his gang. The bounty hunters eventually grow impatient and start fighting within themselves with everything coming to a head when they set the Station on fire. A terrific western in the mold of the Scott/Boetticher films.

"I'm coming home to ya Bessie, this time for good."

Tall Man Riding (1955)

Directed by Lesley Selander - starring Randolph Scott, Dorothy Malone, Robert Barrat and Paul Richards as 'The Peso Kid'

Scott plays a man returning to the town of Red River to seek revenge on ranch owner Tuck Ordway (Robert Barrat). Years earlier Tuck publicly whipped Scott and ran him out of town when he attempted to marry Ordway's daughter, Corinna (Dorothy Malone), at the time considering him unworthy. On his way to the town Scott finds a man, Rex Willard (William Ching), being attacked by three others and saves him only to find out he's married to Scott's old dish. During the fight Scott kills one of the attackers and wicked saloon owner Cibo Pearlo (John Baragrey) frames the peaceful husband instead. Pearlo has designs on taking over Tuck Ordway's ranch, which Scott finds out will soon fall into the public domain and be up for grabs.

Scott's more intense here than usual as he fights to not only clear Rex Willard's name but also sets out to prove to Ordway and Corinna that he is indeed worthy of her love. At the same time fighting Cibo Perlo's right hand man, the slimy villainous Peso Kid (Paul Richards), and saving the Ordway Ranch from being taken over by Pearlo.

There's a great fight that begins in the sheriff's office that smashes the place to hell and spills out onto the streets and ends up underneath a stagecoach. **SPOILERS** Unknown to everyone in town is the fact that Tuck Ordway is going blind and has been for some time. Tuck challenges Scott to a gunfight in a darkened house so that the playing field is equal but Scott soon realizes what's going down and spares Ordway his life. But the public finds out about the ranch falling into public domain and there's a rush for the land.

Fast paced at 80 minutes like most of the Randolph Scott B-movies with lots of characters and backroom shenanigans, this one is a heckuva lot of fun. It's all mostly predictable but these aren't meant to be deep pictures just entertaining, and that it is! Blink and you'll miss Dub Taylor as one of the local townsfolk.

1955 - Behind the scenes photo of actress Dorothy Malone reading

a copy of the latest issue of Variety between takes.

Ride the High Country (1962)

Directed by Sam Peckinpah - starring Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, Mariette Hartley and Ron Starr as 'Huck Longtree'

Joel MCrea hires his old deputy, (Randolph Scott), to help bring down a shipment of gold from a mining town in the High Sierras. They bring along a third man, a young buck named Huck Longtree (that's got to be the best name ever), played by Ron Starr. Along their way they stay the night at a farm owned by a religious nut overbearing his beautiful daughter Elsa, played by Mariette Hartley in her first role. Huck is smitten with the daughter and she is too, kinda. She escapes her grueling father to join the trip up the mountain hoping to find some miner named Billy Hammond who's promised to marry her.

Mostly Joel McCrea's story with Scott along for the ride. Lots of humor but quickly grounded in the ugly reality that the rural states have been tainted with. Upon arrival to the mining camp the focus shifts to Mariette Hartley and her groom, ... and his drunk, unkempt, scarily retarded brothers who all want to 'try out' the bride on her wedding night. As the brothers take turns dancing with Mariette and forcing kisses on her it recalls scenes from DAY OF THE OUTLAW and MAN OF THE WEST, where the implication is rape, molestation and humiliation. Good grim stuff.

Shootouts, turncoats and salvation follows as Joel not only must bring back the gold he promised but must also return Marriette to her father with the Hammond boys close on his tail.

Nice love letter to the quaint old west while also bridging the grim and dirty west that was to follow. Early on McCrea almost gets run down by a primitive form of automobile, again this recalls MAN OF THE WEST when Gary Cooper jumps back on the train platform as the engine roars to a stop. But where that movie was completely humorless, RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY never fails to elicit a chuckle. I had a smile on my face the whole time.

The Man Behind the Gun (1953)

Directed by Felix E. Feist - starring Randolph Scott

Randy Scott plays an undercover fed sent into southern California to stop a group of secessionists from breaking away from the Union and turning it into a slave state. Great sets and fairly big cast for a little ol' B-movie, it sure has a lot going on. Two dames have a cat fight and Randy takes his shirt off, (for his country) and looks like a man doing it. Some nice unexpected comic relief between Scott's two officers one of whom is played by Alan Hale Jr. as 'Cpl. Olaf Swenson'.

Director Felix E. Feist uses lots of rear projection and the stage-bound sets give it a cheap feel but at 82 minutes it moves fast and there are worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon. A fun film for fans of Randolph Scott.

The Texans (1938)

Directed by James Hogan - starring Randolph Scott, Joan Bennett, Robert Cummings and Walter Brennan

At the close of the civil war Randy Scott plays an ex-Confederate soldier who wants to see the country come together, meanwhile carpetbaggers are kicking the South while they're down and unrealistic taxes are levied against cattle owners. Joan Bennett, a bleeding heart for the South, owns the largest ranch in Texas and has to decide on sending her cattle to Mexico to feed troops and continue fighting the North, or, sneak the cattle up north to Kansas, avoid paying taxes, risk fighting Indians and corrupt cavalry men in the hopes of feeding a new bustling town that will become a major stop in the ever expanding railroad ......

An epic Randy Scott western played with broad comedy and sweet romance. Filled to the brim with excellent character actors trying to survive a wagon train and pushing 10 THOUSAND cattle across the plains! Now I didn't count if there were actually 10 thousand cattle, a few shots look like there's maybe only five hundred or so. There's a wonderfully exciting scene that has the wagons and cattle rushing across the land to escape a brush fire set by Indians, and it looks so damn real I can't believe no one was killed during filming. Trees and wagons are set ablaze and cattle is running everywhere, probably scared for their lives and for good reason. Another scene has the wagons and cattle crossing a wide river, and again I just can't believe that no cattle were swept away. It's all terribly exciting. Robert Cummings plays a racist and uncomfortable racism abounds. Joan Bennett is lovely. In glorious black and white. (I think Randy has eye make-up on!)

Scott plays it fairly broad and the character actors bring alot of comedy to the roles. Randy Scott gets rid of his Dixie cavalry uniform post haste at the beginning of the pic, donning nice frontier clothes with leather fringe. The carpetbaggers are so ruthless they try to sell it to him for 60 dollars! (This is what, 1865-ish?) Without a penny to his name he signs over a deed for 10 square miles of land just so he can get some decent clothes (which will allow him to leave town without being harassed by the Yankee soldiers)! Could you imagine owning ten square miles of land?!

Randolph Scott On Set Of The Texans

Original caption: 03/28/1938. A Winner! Randolph Scott in movie makeup gets a big kick out of cabled news from his wife, the former Marion DuPont Somerville, that her horse "Battleship" has won the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree, England. Sharing the actor's enthusiasm on "The Texans" set at Paramount where Scott is at work are left to right: Producer, Lucien Hubbard; Director, James Hogan; and Joan Bennett who appears opposite Scott in the picture and Bing Crosby.

Thunder Over The Plains (1953)

Directed by André de Toth - starring Randolph Scott, Phyllis Kirk, Lex Barker and Henry Hull

Terrific fast paced B-movie with a great cast. Set right at the end of the Civil War, Randy Scott plays a Texan who's a Captain for the Union! Trying to keep the law in Texas while at the same time trying to balance sympathy for his fellow Texans and doing what he's told by his longtime boss and friend, Henry Hull (Werewolf of London). Phyllis Kirk (House of Wax, The Thin Man) plays Scott's wife, who yearns for her husband's attention. Lex Barker (Tarzan) plays a sleazy cavalry man with eyes for Scott's wife. You can just tell Scott wants to knock him out the first time they meet! **SPOILERS** And it feels great when he finally does. Also with Charles McGraw and Elisha Cook Jr.

Director André de Toth and Randolph Scott would make the even better RIDING SHOTGUN the following year.

Fort Worth (1951)

Directed by Edwin L. Marin - starring Randolph Scott, Phyllis Thaxter, Ray Teal and Dickie Jones as 'Dick Jones'

This time out Scott plays a proud newspaper publisher, ... with a dark past as a shady gunslinger. "Watch y'ur writin', we got lady readers now!" Scott boasts to his assistant. When suddenly, *SPOILERS* He happens upon an old flame just before a little boy gets gruesomely trampled by a runaway herd of cattle. Scott mugs on, terrified in front of rear projection. The flame tells him his old town is corrupt and could use a good newspaper and Scott reluctantly accepts, for now. He decides to fight the bad guys by giving them negative press, (! I kid you not), but everyone in town would rather he shoot them dead instead. It wraps up perfectly with Randy and his flame getting hitched. They must have had sex somewhere because she tells him she's naming the baby after the dead boy, so it'll be like he never died. Randy seems surprised by this too.

A mostly stage bound city western, cheap and fast but with lots of great character actors and a zippy plot. They seem to include one of these with each Randolph Scott set and I've grown to like the heck outta 'em.

From Edwin L. Marin; director of COLT .45, INVISIBLE AGENT and the Reginald Owen CHRISTMAS CAROL. This was Edwin's last film, he died that same year - 1951.

1951 - Randolph Scott with color tech John Hamilton on
the set of "Fort Worth." Photo by J. Woods

Colt .45 (1950)

Directed by Edwin L. Marin - starring Randolph Scott, Zachary Scott, Lloyd Bridges, Alan Hale, Ruth Roman and Chief Thundercloud

** SPOILERS ABOUND** Randy plays a Colt. 45 salesmen who gets jumped, framed and stole-on by sweaty coward Zachary Scott. Lloyd Bridges is excellent as a wimpy husband caught up with the .45 Gang who guns down his own wife to save himself from being ratted out! Alan Hale delivers a vicious dickdown to Zachary Scott when he catches him in a rare moment without the stolen guns. "What are ya' without these!" As he pummels him with the butt of his own pistols. Randy saves Chief Thundercloud early on and they become friends, "Close one Chief, you almost lost top-hair!" Chief then pops up throughout the movie to save Randy when he's in trouble.

Tons of rear projection. Heavy handed morals and historical inaccuracies abound but it's all good fun. Deliriously fast paced. Very cartoony and over the top, perfect for an early Saturday morning. Nice gun fetish imagery over the title and end credits.

From the Director of INVISIBLE AGENT (1942).