La furieuse chevauchée

Randolph Scott starred in many fine westerns in his decades-long career. His strong, gentlemanly demeanor gave way to steely determination when confronting the villains who were unfortunate enough to face him . This film again finds Scott out for vengeance in what turned out to be a pretty decent shoot-em-up film.

Although Scott & John Dehner give their usual strong performances, the script ultimately lets them both down. It is full of clichéd western characters that hold few surprises for the seasoned viewer.

All of Randolph Scott's films are worth seeing, but this film from late in his career was not his best. An average film from a great actor.

Look fast for an appearance by character actor Dub Taylor !

Offbeat western;I have often the impression that all those past events are perhaps more interesting than what happens in the present time;it is one of these movies which would have needed some flashbacks .It's all the more necessary since many things happened,concerning not only the principal.

Three scenes are particularly good: Randolph Scott entering his enemy's house when we see a portrait on a wall,showing a still young man with a whip;then the older man,with a whip;The duel in the dark place;the final race which shows more violence in four minutes than in all the rest of the movie.Dorothy Malone is at ease in westerns ("Colorado Territory" ,"Warlock") although she could be Randolph Scott's daughter.

Some of the same plot elements in the far more expensive James Stewart western, The Far Country which came out the year before are to be found in this fine Randolph Scott B western Tall Man Riding. Like Stewart in his film, Randolph Scott is a tough and touchy guy you don't push too hard and like Stewart he has two leading ladies and you're not quite sure which one he'll end up with in the end.

Tall Man Riding is a range war western and Scott's the loner who's ridden back into town and into the middle of said war. On the one side is John Baragrey the owner of the local saloon and a man pushing homesteaders in on the local Ponderosa owner and Scott finds him repugnant on general principles. On the other side the local Ponderosa owner is Robert Barrat who was making his farewell big screen appearance. Scott was courting Dorothy Malone, Barrat's daughter and Barrat thought him not worthy. He ran Scott out of town after administering a public whipping to him. Malone's now married to William Ching.

The only friend Scott does make is saloon girl Peggie Castle who is the personal squeeze of Baragrey. She'd like to trade up if she can and finds Randy quite to her liking. She even saves him from a bushwhacking.

Tall Man Riding has enough hard riding and gunplay to suit western fans and it is also a harbinger of the westerns soon to be populating the small screen with more adult themes. There are two other roles of note in Tall Man Riding, John Dehner plays a sleazy lawyer and Paul Richards plays a gunfighter on the payroll of Baragrey.

In my description you will also notice some plot similarities to Destry Rides Again and the climax involves a land rush which while not as spectacular as the one in both versions of Cimarron is still exciting enough and done well enough with the small budget this B film had.

Tall Man Riding is a really good Randolph Scott western, one of the better ones he did in the Fifties.

The "Tall Man Riding" of the title is Randolph Scott in another of his series of "B" Plus (or "A" Minus, if you will) 80 minute westerns made during the 1950s.

In this entry Larry Madden (Scott) is riding to the town of Little River when he happens upon a man being attacked by three others. He takes the part of the pursued and kills one of the attackers. The man he has helped turns out to be Rex Willard (William Ching) the son in law of Tuck Ordway (Robert Barrat) a powerful rancher with whom Madden has some issues. It also seems that Madden had been romantically involved with Ordway's daughter Lorraine (Dorothy Malone) who is now married to Willard.

Riding into town Madden meets an old nemesis Seabo Pearlo (John Baragrey) the owner of a local saloon, and his "singer" Reva (Peggie Castle). Lawyer Luddington (John Dehner) is also there and we learn that Madden has hired him to find out if Ordway truly owns his ranch, Warbonnet. It turns out that he doesn't and the property falls into the public domain.

Meanwhile Pearlo frames Willard for the murder of the gunman and Lorraine comes to Madden for help. He reluctantly agrees to attend the inquest but is ambushed by Pearlo's gunman, The Peso Kid (Paul Richards). Reva nurses him back to health and he returns to town in search of the Kid. However he learns that the Kid is planning to kill Willard on his way to trial with Deputy Barclay (Mickey Simpson). Madden is unable to prevent the murder and returns to town to learn that Pearlo has designs on Ordway's ranch.

Not being interested in the ranch Madden decides that it's time to confront Ordway. The two agree to meet in a showdown in a darkened room where Madden learns that Ordway is almost blind. Madden returns to town to confront the Kid. Then there's the land rush for Ordway's property. Madden decides to join in and................................

The romance between the Scott and Malone characters is a little hard to be taken seriously as he was twice her age at the time. But there's plenty of action in the picture to compensate. Director Leslay Selander gives us a slam bang land rush, plenty of gun play and a knock down drag out fight between Scott and Simpson (and their stunt doubles).

All in all a very entertaining western.

After five years' absence, Randolph Scott returns to a town to get his revenge. It seems that the powerful Tucker Ordway (Robert Barrat) had whipped him within and inch of his life because Scott had the nerve to ask to marry Ordway's daughter. But before he can retaliate, he stumbles into the middle of a fight between one bully, Ordway, and another of the town's bullies, Cibo Pearlo (John Baragrey). So now Scott isn't sure which one to take on first or just let the other two kill each other! In this film, Scott plays a harder man than usual. In most of his westerns, he plays a good guy--one that is exceptionally nice and good. Here, though, he isn't quite so kind but a bit more menacing than usual. He wants revenge and all else seems unimportant...until he learns Ordway's dark secret.

In many ways, this is a rather typical western for Randolph Scott, even if he is hell-bent on revenge. There are the usual bosses vying for power and in the end you just know that Scott will do the right thing. A tad predictable in spots, but overall still a very good movie.

By the way, doesn't the Peso Kid look a lot like his head was dipped in plastic? Normally I wouldn't say anything, but wow did he look weird!! Plus, did you also notice that his accent kept changing throughout the film? Also, didn't they make Dorothy Malone's character a bit,...nasty?! This ISN'T the word I wanted to use, but IMDb has rules against using certain words.