Ride the Man Down

This western from Republic has a very good cast. While few A-list names, a lot of familiar and accomplished actors appear in it, including Brian Donlevy, Rod Cameron, Forrest Tucker, Ella Raines, Paul Fix, Chill Wills, and J. Carrol Naish. Sadly, however, the print I found on YouTube was severely yellowed and the color is less than stellar.

When the story begins, the tough boss of the Hatchet Ranch has died unexpectedly. Now there's a new boss, a lady, and the future of the place is in doubt...especially since Bide Marriner (Donlevy) vows to take what he wants! Can the ranchhands of Hatchet Ranch manage to hold onto what they've worked for all these years? Or, is it time for everyone to tear the ranch apart and take the cattle?

This was a difficult movie to watch only because so many people seemed to have their own agenda and figuring out who were the good guys wasn't too easy! Still, with so many good B-list actors (far more than you'd usually expect in a film), you can't go wrong with this one.

Rod Cameron was for Republic Pictures and Joseph Kane in particular the equivalent of Randolph Scott was for Andre De Toth, Edwin Marin or Budd Boetticher. And here, Rod Cameron has his usual and faithful pal Forrest Tucker. They often played together, with also the usual villain Jim Davis, a long time before he became famous as Ewing family patriarch in DALLAS series. So this Republic western is above many of others because it is not a cabaret western, as was for instance JUBILEE TRAIL and many other of this kind, taking place in San Francisco with many music hall, Burlesque sequences and songs, often starring Vera Ralston, Herbert J Yates' s - Republic Pictures mogul - wife. So this one belongs to the list of westerns over ninety minutes made for Republic during the fifties, in Trucolor and full of excitment.

"Ride the man down" is a pleasant fast paced western about a ranch war with lot of characters played by a great casting (Jim Davis, Brian Donlevy, Forrest Tucker, ... and the punchy Ella Raines) with tough Rod Cameron as the defender of the purchased ranch. Always great photography by Jack Marta, especially at night. And Ella Raines character, as tough as a man, is the best (but I love her in every of her movies), don't miss her fight.

In 1892, a foreman of a huge ranch in southern Utah (Rod Cameron) tries to stave off land grabbers (Brian Donlevy) and rustlers (Jim Davis) after the death of the patriarch. Curiously, the fiancé (Forrest Tucker) of the heir of the ranch (Ella Raines) seems to oppose the foreman's efforts.

Based on the Luke Short novel, "Ride the Man Down" (1952) starts out convoluted with a dozen key characters introduced in the first act. They tend to speak in that rat-a-tat-tat way which was in vogue back then. The flick needed another 30 more minutes of runtime to breath. If you pay attention, however, you'll eventually figure out who's who and the details thereof.

More than that, you'll discover a great little old Western that's undeservedly obscure. You can't beat the awesome Southwest locations in living color and Cameron makes for a stalwart, noble protagonist. Raines works well as the heroine and I enjoyed the human interest of the romantic possibilities with quality dialogues/acting.

If you appreciate old Westerns like "Albuquerque," "Whispering Smith," The Sundowners" (1950), "Shane" and "The Hangman," this is just as worthwhile in its unique way.

It runs 1 hour, 29 minutes, and was shot in Kanab, Utah, which is in the southwest region of the state by the border of Arizona.

GRADE: B+/A-

For a B western Ride The Man Down packs a lot of plot in its 90+ minute running time. It's a range war western, but it's complicated by the fact that several of the characters are really working their own agendas. It opens with the death during a blizzard of the death of a man who owned a large cattle spread.

He must have been a most strong and charismatic man holding his range together where boundaries apparently are not fixed things. His daughter and heir Ella Raines has lost a lot of her hands and relies now on foreman Rod Cameron to protect her interests. Cameron himself has ridden roughshod in the past over a lot of people to keep that land for his late employer.

Cameron's chief antagonist is Brian Donlevy, but Cameron has a lot of other enemies that only now are coming out because they think the local Ponderosa can't defend its interests any longer.

Besides those mentioned Ride The Man Down as an impressive cast list of familiar players like Forrest Tucker, Barbara Britton, Chill Wills, Taylor Holmes, Paul Fix, Roy Barcroft, Jim Davis, J. Carrol Naish, and Douglas Kennedy. All perform with the usual professional polish you would expect from this group. They all look western comfortable in their parts. Most have been in lots of westerns before others can adapt anywhere.

Ride The Man Down is a most adult western for a studio that churned out horse operas by the dozens every week for its Saturday afternoon kids. They watched their cowboys on television now and Republic now did its westerns for their parents. This one pretty good.