Muerte a medias

Some of the reviews here nearly dissuaded me from watching this film, which doesn't seem to have been screened much on British TV (certainly I was unaware of it), whereas the Boetticcher and other later Scott Westerns are shown regularly.

"MITS" compared very well indeed with these, and the plot was different to those of "stranger riding into town and trouble"). It's been remarked that Scott was a bit old for the two female leads, but that was the case in many of his later Westerns (and Gary Cooper's too). The colour photography also added to my enjoyment of the film. It was good to see Guinn Williams in a role that wasn't his "comic sidekick" one, and also John Russell as a jealous admirer. Joan Leslie's romantic vacillations were a bit unconvincing, as were the final scenes.

Unlike at least one previous reviewer, I didn't notice the differing appearances of Scott and his fight stand-in, and I doubt that cinema viewers in the early 1950s did either.

(I've just checked the date of release, and was a little surprised, as the film had the "look" of one made late in the decade or even the early 1960s.)

I'm glad that I watched it.

Man in the Saddle is directed by Andre De Toth and adapted to screenplay by Kenneth Gamet from the novel written by Ernest Haycox. It stars Randolph Scott, Joan Leslie, John Russell, Ellen Drew, Alexander Knox, Richard Rober and Guinn Williams. Music is by George Duning and cinematography by Charles Lawton Jr.

More known and rightly lauded for the series of Western films he made with Budd Boetticher, it often gets forgotten that Randolph Scott also had a long working relationship with Andre De Toth. Man in the Saddle was the first of six Western films the two men would make together, and it's a pretty impressive start.

Sometimes you see words such as routine and standard attributed to a lot of Westerns from the 1950s, and Man in the Saddle is one such film that's unfairly tarred with that brush. Not that the narrative drive is out of the ordinary, the plot essentially sees Randy as a peaceful farmer forced to get nasty when evil land baron flexes his muscles, but the zest of the action, the stunt work, the colour photography (Lone Pine as always a Mecca for Western fans) and Scott, mark this out as a thoroughly entertaining production.

Characterisations carry a bit more psychological smarts than your average "B" Western of the era. There's a four way tug-of-love-war operating that is clearly going to spell misery, pain and death for somebody, a capitalist slant that bites hard with its egotistical bully boy overtones, while the obsessive behaviour of the principal players adds another dark cloud over this part of the West. Then there is the action scenes, of which De Toth once again shows himself to be a darn fine purveyor of such directional skills.

And so, we get an ace runaway blazing wagon sequence, a stampede, a quite brilliant gunfight in a darkened saloon, a mano-mano fist fight that literally brings the house down – and then continues down a steep ravine, and the closing shoot-out played out during a dust storm doesn't lack for adrenaline rushes. Scott is once again a bastion of Western coolness, more so when he throws off the bright attire he wears for the first half of film, to then switch to black clothes that signifies he's going all bad ass on those who have caused him grief.

Undervalued for sure, both as a Scott picture and as a Western movie in general. Don't believe the routine and standard scare mongers, there's good craft here and it's a whole bunch of Oater fun. 7.5/10

Man in the Saddle could be looked at as just another Randolph Scott western, but for one noteworthy difference: it's the first movie produced by Scott-Brown Productions. The rest is history, and thankfully, the gamble to leave mainstream Hollywood paid off: Randolph Scott westerns were some of the most popular movies of the decade!

The story of this one is fairly straightforward: Scottie McScottie Pants and Alexander Knox battle it out over a girl. You might think it's not a fair fight, since Scottie is a western superstar, and Alex usually plays ministers. However, Alex has one thing Scottie doesn't, and it's important: money. The object of their affection, Joan Leslie, values money and all it can buy, so she leaves Scottie for Alex. Does she ever regret her decision? You'll have to watch this ninety minute brawl to find out. It's not ninety minutes of pure fighting, of course; but the gigantic fight scene in the end is extremely impressive. Keep an eye out for Ellen Drew, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, John Russell, and a young Cameron Mitchell in the supporting cast.

This film begins with a rancher by the name of "Owen Merritt" (Randolph Scott) attempting to adjust to the realization that his former girlfriend "Laurie Bidwell" (Joan Leslie) has recently agreed to marry an unscrupulous businessman named "Will Isham" (Alexander Knox) in the very near future. And although Will knows Laurie is entering their marriage strictly for financial reasons, he is also aware that she still has feelings for Owen. Because of that, he becomes even more intent to take everything else Owen has as well. What he doesn't realize, however, is that Owen isn't the type who can be bullied and he is more than capable of taking care of himself if he is pushed too far. Now, rather than reveal any more I will just say that this turned out to be an okay Western for the most part which benefited by solid performances by Randolph Scott, Joan Leslie and Ellen Drew (as "Nan Melotte"). On that note, I must admit that the relationship between Owen and Laurie seemed rather odd at times but other than that this film managed to pass the time fairly well and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Big rancher Alexander Knox has married Joan Leslie former girlfriend of smaller rancher Randolph Scott. Knox is a brooding jealous sort of man and wants Scott out the territory. He hires some gunslingers headed by Richard Rober to do the job.

Scott's a 'peaceable man' in the tradition of Wild Bill Elliott, but don't provoke him too much. But Knox is determined to start a range war out of jealousy.

It becomes an open war after Rober kills brothers Cameron Mitchell and Richard Crane who work for Scott. And the wild part is that Scott's now taken a fancy to Ellen Drew.

A previous reviewer said that Alexander Knox was miscast in a western. True he isn't a typical western actor, but a whole lot of people went west to make names for themselves of all kinds. Knox does a good job of the brooding and jealous rancher with a deep seated inferiority complex.

Now it's also true that Richard Rober is a little too nattily dressed for a villain, but that sure is a western stereotype. I think he made a very good villain in this western. Rober was tragically killed in an automobile accident soon after this picture was finished. A good career in villainy was cut short.

A lot of plot similarities to this and The Violent Men also done by Columbia Pictures a few years later. It's a good entry from the Randolph Scott western collection.