Le Cavalier traqué

Riding Shotgun is directed by Andre De Toth and adapted to screenplay by Thomas W. Blackburn fro the story "Riding Solo" written by Kenneth Perkins. It stars Randolph Scott, Wayne Morris, Joan Weldon, Joe Sawyer, James Millican, Charles Bronson and James Bell. Music is by David Buttolph and Warnercolor cinematography is by Bert Glennon.

Before he would make the Western movies with Budd Boetticher that would define him as a Western movie legend, Randolph Scott worked tirelessly in the genre. He would make 6 films with Ray Enright and 6 with Andre De Toth, all of these are good value for the Western fan. They vary in thematic quality, but production value was always decent and there was always Randy at war with some gruff or poncey bloke, nice location photography and of course some gorgeous ladies as well. That's enough for genre fans who happily take these movies on their required terms.

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Riding Shotgun has Scott as Larry Delong, a man who spends his time "riding shotgun" as a stagecoach guard. He has an ulterior motive, though, he's constantly on the look out for a known outlaw, Dan Marady (Millican), and he wants him dead. Sure enough Malady is about the place and Larry falls into a trap and finds things spiralling so out of control, that by the time he manages to get back into town, practically everyone hates him and thinks he's part of Marady's murderous gang.

Hate makes a man careless.

Cue a scenario where Delong, who has been wonderfully providing us with a film noir like narration throughout (love the wry David and Goliath observation), literally has to make a one man stand against the dimwit townsfolk and also Marady and his henchmen who are fronted by twitchy gun Pinto! (Bronson). It clocks in at under 75 minutes, it's brisk, it has Scott kicking ass big time and it looks lovely (unsurprising with Glennon photographing).

Is it flawless? God no! There's some distinctly below average acting around Scott (Morris/Millican), while Fritz Feld as the Cantina owner (erm, called Fritz) where Delong holes up, is annoying in the extreme. While as radiant and perky as Joan Weldon is, she's no actress capable of grabbing a scene and shooting electricity through it. But this type of Scott Oater is comfort food to genre fans who once in a while like to down pistols and relax away from the more serious genre fare. 7/10

Stagecoach guard Larry Delong (Randolph Scott) is obsessed with catching criminal Dan Marady who leads a ruthless gang and killed his relatives. He falls into trap, hog-tied, and left to die in the sun. The stagecoach gets attacked and the men are killed. Larry escapes and returns to town. He is surprised to find that most of the population believe that he is part of Marady's gang and they are unwilling to listen to his warning of an imminent return of the gang to raid the town. Meanwhile, Marady's gang is infiltrating the town.

This is a great depiction of mob rule. These regular town folks may seem like cartoons but they are more real than one expects. These are men of pitchforks and torches. I love the regular people turning on the hero. As for the criminals, I expected them to be more ruthless. This is still an old fashion western which is barely more than seventy minutes. It doesn't go as dark as it could have. The last act is doing a happy Hollywood ending. The narrating is a little interesting in that it gives Larry's gunfire some inner monologue. I wouldn't mind a modern remake with a more brutal final act.

This exciting picture tells the story of a upright stagecoach guard called Larry Delong (Randolph Scott) . Larry tries to warn a town of an imminent raid by a band of outlaws and the townsfolk mistake him for one of the band . But Delong has sworn revenge and detain to undercover the real outlaws . Delong is besieged by Sheriff Tub Murphy (Wayne Morris) , deputies and other villagers and no one in town is willing to help him . In the Old west there are always the men who live breathe violence and the women who hold their breath .

This undemanding western is plenty of suspense as the dreaded final showdown approaches and the protagonist realizes he must stand alone against impossible odds as his fellow town people for help , nobody is willing to help him but they pursue him , while he attempts to clear his name as wrongfully accused of robber and murder . This passable tale is almost rudimentary though full of clichés , a good guy come to narration is almost adjusted in real time from the starring arrives in the little town until the ending confrontation and is given a limited time to resolve the accusation as stealer and murderer . The highlights of the film are the facing off between Scott and his enemies and the climatic showdown on the final . Phenomenal and great role for Randolph Scott as tough guy , he's the whole show , he plays a stagecoach guard seeking to clear his reputation . He gives a perfect acting as stoic , craggy, and uncompromising figure . Good support cast , such as Wayne Morris , Joan Weldon , Joe Sawyer , Frank Ferguson , James Bell , uncredited Dub Taylor and Charles Bronson as Charles Buchinsky , many of them usual in Western . Although made in short budget by the producer Ted Sherdeman , it is a enough efficient film and very entertaining . The picture contains an excellent cinematography by Bert Glennon -John Ford's usual photographer- and appropriate musical score by David Buttolph .

This typical Western was professionally directed by Andre De Toth . At his beginnings he entered the Hungarian film industry, obtaining work as a writer, editor , second unit director and actor before finally becoming a director. He directed a few films just before the outbreak of WW II, when he fled to England . Alexander Korda gave him a job there, and when De Toth emigrated to the US in 1942 , Korda got him a job as a second unit director on Jungle Book (1942) . Andre De Toth was a classical director , Western usual (Indian fighter, Man in the saddle, Ramrod , Last of Comanches , The stranger wore a gun), but also made Peplum (Gold for the Caesar) and adventure (The Mongols , Morgan the pirate , Tanganyika) . Probably his best known film is House of wax (1953), a Vincent Price horror film shot in 3D .

Stage-line security guard Scott is lured away from town by a member of his arch-enemy's gang and tied up to die from exposure. Escaping, he returns to find the stage robbed and everyone thinking he's in cahoots with the villains, with no one believing him when he tells them that the robbery was a ruse to get the law out on a goose-chase so that the real deal could go down. In fact, the whole town is ready to lynch Scott!

Though some of the portrayals of the ignorant townspeople are clearly over-the-top, Riding Shotgun is a very well-made and well-paced little western that really delivers the goods in terms of action and especially suspense.

There's a great role for a young Charles Bronson, who in his western debut (excluding an episode of The Roy Rodgers Show where he plays a boxer) as a sadistic member of the outlaw gang. The scenes where he joins the lynch mob and stokes them are pretty neat.

There's also a great role for Wayne Morris, who's probably best remembered for his role as a cowardly officer in Stanley Kubrick's Paths Of Glory, as the town's remaining deputy who desperately tries to prevent needless bloodshed.

"Riding shotgun" begins interestingly enough with voiceover by Randolph Scott. That is fair enough and what I would expect from the lead, as he manages to free himself from being tied down by a very young Charles Bronson, who plays Pinto, a robber cum murderer who owes very little to intelligence and not only does a poor job of tying up the fearsome gunhand but actually leaves Scott's gun and horse nearby. That is not all, another dimwit in the group also drops the Derringer that is used as bait for the evil Marady (reliably played by James Millican) to entrap Scott.

Confusing enough? Not as confusing as comparing this modest Western with HIGH NOON, a masterpiece on many levels, including an incisive attack on HUAC and McCarthyism.

That said, I found it confusing, if not downright exasperating, to see Scott decide to stay in a barroom while the town's residents plan to lynch him, fire shots at him, goad the deputy sheriff Tub Murphy (the Christian name Tub fits, he spends most of the film eating) into doing something about Scott while Marady and Pinto proceed to rob the local bank. The barroom owner is understandably peeved that his prized mirror might be shattered by bullets, as Scott fires one to kill the flame of a candle giving away his position. All of that makes for a mid-section with many different faces, and not much of a connecting thread, but the ending is great with Scott suddenly taking the limelight again and making sure that the robbers will not be able to use their horses to flee. Even poor dumb Pinto gets his due while trying to mount, and Marady's good luck piece changes hands!

Good fun, decent direction by the ever predictable and steadfast André de Toth. OK photography and script... for a B Western.