El ahorcado

It is even easier to forget if you don't bother watching it. This TV movie moves at a snail's pace. There is barely enough interesting to happen to interest Edmund O'Brien andPrinra Miles fans. Its obvious they only showed up for a paycheck. Robert Culp seems the most depressed. He sleepwalks through his scenes never changing his expression.

The only things I found interesting was a cameo by Stan Getz and Astrid Gilberto performing The Girl from Ipanema and the fact that street scenes are filled with the shiny new 1964 Ford lineup: A Galaxie XL four door hardtop, a Falcon Futura Coupe and a Fairlane 500 Club Copue. Product placement!

FYI. The beautiful French girl is played by Brenda Scott. She was married and divorced to Andrew Prine three times. I bet that story would make for a much better TV movie.

Made-for-TV crime-drama--evidently only the second film ever to be produced especially for a television broadcast--was directed by Donald (Don) Siegel and features a good cast of character actors including Robert Culp, Vera Miles, Al Lettieri in an uncredited bit, and Norman Fell (who's terrific). Loose adaptation of Dorothy B. Hughes' novel "Ride the Pink Horse", previously filmed in 1947 starring Robert Montgomery, trades in a Mexican Fiesta for Mardi Gras in New Orleans as a hired gun, seeking to avenge the murder of a friend, is tailed by a government agent working to build a case against a crooked union boss. Originally broadcast on NBC, the film has acquired a certain mystique, mostly due to its relative unavailability. The double-crosses are fun, if familiar, while the milieu is colorful and the music lively. Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto turn up as the nightclub entertainment performing "The Girl From Ipanema" and "Only Trust Your Heart", and Culp is typically solid if swallowed up in his scenes with Edmond O'Brien, chewing the scenery as the heavy. ** from ****

Watching this film on a poor-picture YouTube download is not ideal, admittedly, but it is also bogged down by a near-lethargic performance from Robert Culp, an ineffective location change from Mexico to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, leaden dialogue, funereal pacing, and the writing out of the major Thomas Gomez character from the original to be replaced by a fairly pointless performance by J Carrol Naish. Hard to believe this was directed by Don Siegel but it fails to rise above 1960s TV-movie status. Edmond O'Brien tries to bring some life to the proceedings - his corrupt Hoffa-like character is the most likable player. Norman Fell also shines, and Vera Miles tries her best with the little the script gives her to do. Noir fans should stick to the original, which is a classic. For Don Siegel completists only.

This 1964 TV movie was directed by Don Siegel and is a remake of the 1947 Robert Montgomery picture Ride the Pink Horse, which was adapted from a Dorothy Hughes novel. The first version is slow, needlessly pictorial, and for the most part not well acted. Siegel's version is tight as a drum, very exciting, and set in New Orleans at Mardi Gras time rather than a Southwest whistle-stop. It is highly energetic and almost surreal in its use of color and some very fancy editing, fancy even for a theatrical film, and almost unheard of in a TV one, of which it is an early example. The plot is fairly standard thriller stuff, but the handling of the material is masterful. Robert Culp is a fine hero and Edmond O'Brien a not altogether loathsome villain. The rest of the cast,--Vera Miles, J. Carrol Naish, Pat Buttram--are likewise superb. I am amazed that this one has not been rediscovered. It's one of those movies that seems almost like a throwaway genre piece that is really an intricate and beautifully crafted piece of work. This forgotten Siegel tour de force ought to be on video.

This is a fine noir film, made even better by an exceptional cast, particularly Robert Culp. The writing, directing, and acting are well-done, and the Mardi Gras background is a great way to end it. Culp has always been one of my favorite actors, so I would love to see this again. It's a crying shame that films like this are not available on DVD, especially since so many lousy movies are. Any movie featuring Robert Culp is worth having.

The supporting cast is great, too...Edmond O'Brian, Vera Miles, Brenda Scott, Pat Buttram, Edger Bergen, and Randy Boone give fine performances. Don Siegel directs the feature, and he's also one of my favorite directors. It's also nice to hear the hit song, Girl From Ipanema in the soundtrack. Everything jells in this great gangster noir movie.

Someone please put this movie out on DVD!