Rider on a Dead Horse

According my records, I never saw any movie starred by John Vivyan, the story is simple, but striking at least, the cast are summarized in few characters only, however all them colorful, here including a beauty Chinese girl Ming Kwai (Lisa Lu), three gold prospectors after found a substantial portion of gold on a Indian reserve at desert, they share the gold, suddenly the greed leader Barney Senn (Bruce Gordon) kills his black partner Taylor (Charles Lampkin) to great astonishment of the other partner Hayden (John Vivyan) as they had enough gold for themselves, henceforth Hayden tries figure out when and where he'll be the next to die, meanwhile the Apaches realize their presence and start pursuing them, Hayden plans misleading the Indians and run away thru the rock ground without horses, due the heavy gold bags he also decides buries the gold to return later, when they foil the Apaches once more Barney shot in Hayden that even wounded dragged nearest at railroad on construction, Ming Kwai finds him fell in the ground, she helps Hayden taking him to a little tent, they make a deal, if Ming Kwai takes care him and recovers his gold he'll pay a travel to her to San Francisco, get ready to a lot of upcoming surprise to next, unusual B-Western notwithstanding the low budge, really enjoyable!!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD-R / Rating: 6

i saw this baby first run and liked it so well that i told my old high school buddy about it and we went to see it and he loved it too! it kind of set the stage for the later spaghetti westerns i think. it was in an abstract form that sort of reminded me of the Day of the Painter which won the Cannes Film Festival in the late 50's. i always enjoyed John Vivyian in his TV series Mr.Lucky as the offshore gambling boat owner. It was similar to Peter Gunn in its "coolness". i always enjoyed The Untouchables where i think the co-star of R.O.A.D.H. played the role of Frank Nitti. oh well, either you will like this movie or you wont.

With its Roots Firmly in "TV-Land", this Progressive Little Western Gets Its "Quirk-On" with an Interracial Romance, Artsy Camera Angles, and Blowing Up Apaches with Dynamite.

From the "Tube" We Get Director Herbert L. Strock, besides Directing Episodes of Almost Every TV-Western that Ever Was, did Make a Slight Mark with Low-Budget Cult Films Like "Gog" (1954), "I Was a Teen-Age Frankenstein" (1957), and "Blood of Dracula" (1957).

Leading Man "John Vivyan", Best Known for His TV-Stint as "Mr. Lucky" (1959-60), but also was in, as Support, the Big-Budget "Imitation of Life" (1959) with "Lana Turner". He and His "Dimpled Chin" Continued on TV Until the 80's.

"Bruce Gordon", had a Mostly TV-Career, Famously as "Frank Nitti" on "The Untouchables" (1959-63), a "Quinn Martin Production". But Can Also be Seen on the Big-Screen in "Piranha" (1978), "The Tower of London" (1962), and "The Buccaneer" (1958).

"Lisa Lu", is Another Story Altogether. She Employs, to This Day, "Crazy Rich Asians" (2018), Her Heritage, in a Career with almost 90 Credits, Including "The Last Emperor" (1987).

She is Quite a "Cookie" in This One and Sparkles On-Screen Stealing the Show From Everyone, Including the "Dead Horse".

That isn't Really Dead (it's the rider), as can be Seen in the Very Last Shot, Grazing Away, Waiting to Carry the Live Survivors into the Sunset.

"Kevin Hagen", Another TV-Vet, "Little House on the Prairie (1974-83), and "Yancy Derringer" (1958-59), Continued His Stint on the "Boob-Tube" Until 1988,

It's a Low-Budget Western that was Ahead of its Time, and is Well...

Worth a Watch.

Three prospectors divide and bury their gold to safeguard it from warring Apaches. Cue a series of double crosses, triple crosses, chases, and shoot-outs as greed drives the three men to murder and betrayal.

Double-crosses, triple crosses, shootouts over gold? Sounds like a spaghetti western. The action occurs largely in stark, rugged, inhospitable terrain like Euro-westerns in Spain. But of course this is an American western released two years before the man with no name reared his head. Raw and vital with a stark, monochromatic cinematography and alluring camerawork. The music is surf board music. There's an unusual edge to the proceedings. There is an interracial romance. Lisa Lu plays an interesting character - a young Chinese gal used as a pawn, a plaything, a love interest, a captive and a bargaining chip. She's tough, smart and just wants to get to San Francisco. Fistfights, an Indian attack, a manhunt, a jailbreak and a dynamite-fueled denouement add to the sagebrush thrills. It's quite watchable and even compelling. Uneasy alliances between men and women who don't trust each other shift back and forth throughout this gritty western. Worth checking out.

I saw this movie when it came out. It was a black and white western.

Can't remember the plot, except that Bruce Gordon (who had acted as a mafia guy in the Untouchables) was the villain, and John Vivyan (with a marvelous chin, similar to that of Kirk Douglas) was the hero. And they were fighting about gold or something, and Lisa Lu, (a Chinese girl who had been imported to build the railroads[!]) kept getting between them, and at various times in the movie had pulled a knife on both of them more than twice. I laughed every time she pulled her knife... I don't remember if she had a speaking part or if she just had a knife pulling part.

This film was unintentionally one of the funniest I have seen.