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).

The Law and Jake Wade (1958)

Directed by John Sturges - starring Robert Taylor, Richard Widmark, Patricia Owens, Henry Silva and DeForest Kelley as 'Wexler'

Robert Taylor plays 'Marshal Jake Wade', a reformed outlaw who breaks his old pal 'Clint Hollister' (an excellent Richard Widmark) outta jail to pay back an old debt, thus saving him from a hangin'. Jake now lives a simple life with his soon-to-be bride 'Peggy' (Patrica Owens). But Hollister and his gang have other plans. Years ago Jake buried the money from their last job, and now Clint Hollister wants his cut.

Robert Taylor is a bit of a stiff here and I just can't warm up to him. The real reason to see this movie is for Richard Widmark and his gang of baddies, including Henry Silva and DeForest Kelley, who steal every scene. I just about died when Henry Silva sez with a straight face that he's from Kansas. Bones has a great southern accent and is hot to see Taylor get his. So is Silva. So is me. Widmark is great as usual, playing a likable jerk. I genuinely felt bad when Talor sez to him at the end, "I never liked you as much as you liked me." Widmark is devestated. He curls up and dies inside. In a fit of anger he throws his cigarette to the ground and stomps away. Patricia Owens has the thankless role of being the captive woman with nothing to do, but she looks good doing it.

SHOT IN LONE PINE!

And directed by John Sturges. This b-movie has swell production value, beautiful mountain vistas and a great shootout in a ghost town. The night scenes are stage-bound but sometimes I kinda prefer that to day-for-night. A solid western that is worth seeing for the locations and character actors. And I guess for fans of Robert Taylor's sad face.

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."

Yellow Sky (1948)

(Directed by William A . Wellman - starring Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter, Richard Widmark and Henry Morgan as 'Half Pint'

Gorgeous black and white photography sets the stage for this sun-stroked western noir. Gregory Peck leads a crooked gang, that includes Richard Widmark and Henry Morgan, through dangerous salt flats after robbing a bank.

Half dead from dehydration the gang comes upon the ghost town of Yellow Sky only to discover a young woman, played by Anne Baxter, and her grandfather, played by James Barton, living there but questions the reasoning behind their being. What would a young woman and an old man be doing in the middle of nowhere by themselves? The gang quickly comes to the conclusion that they must have found gold and decide they're gonna take it for themselves. Meanwhile Peck finds himself smitten by Anne Baxter who balks at his forceful advances. "YOU STINK! Didn't anyone ever tell you that you stink?!"

The wheels start turning and Peck gets cleaned up nice, inside and out, and begins to have a change of heart. But the gang plans on getting the gold the old man and his grand-daughter have, with or without Peck's help.

SHOOT IT IN LONE PINE!

Shot in Lone Pine and Death Valley the film has a great sense of isolation and beautiful desert scenery. No stranger to the Western genre, director William Wellman would go on to make one of my favorites, the almost as black & white TRACK OF THE CAT six years later.