La chevauchée de la vengeance

A bounty hunter, Randolph Scott, escorts a killer, James Best, to be tried for murder. The murderer was worth 5000 dollars alive or dead but he was easier to bring in dead. This is the man called Brigade, Scott , hot as the revenge that drove him , hated by the woman he saved , a white woman he was going to keep against the savage Indians who are surrounding them . Along the trail he meets two outlaws, Pernell Roberts, James Coburn, and a gorgeous widow, Karen Steele , and all of them are pursued by the nasty Lee Van Cleef who is planning an ambush.

This is a nice western , a well-done example of a B movie with fine interpretations, acceptable production design, glimmering photography and enjoyable outdoors. Interesting and engaging screenplay , including attractive characters and thrilling plot . Stars the great Randolph Scott that brings a new kind of adventurer and bounty hunter to the screen, he is looking for a murderer, but it is not just the reward, as he hopes the kiler wil lead him to the man who killed Scott's spouse. Support cast is frankly good as Pernell Roberts and James Coburn play two bandits who hope if they capture the killer they will get a pardon . The explosive Karen Steele plays the pretty widow. And Lee Van Cleef, pre-Sergio Leone , performs perfectly his ordinary baddie role.

It contains a colorful and shimmering cinematography in CinemaScope by Charles Lang Jr and techical consultant by Henry Jaffa. As well as an evocative and thrilling musical score. The motion picture was well produced by Ranown and professionally directed by Budd Boetticher in his usual style.He directed a lot of Western, most of them written by Burt Kennedy, being exhibited by Columbia Pictures . Along with Randolph Scott and Harry Joe Brown formed a production company ,Ranown, financing several Westerns. At the beginning Budd worked for Universal International directing Westerns as Wolf hunters, Cimarron kid, Bronco Buster, Horizons West, Seminole, The man from the Alamo, Wings of the hawk . In 1956 he directed a B production for Batjac titled 7 men from now. In 1957 made The Tall T with his production company, following Decision at sundown, Buchanan rides alone, Ride lonesome, Comanche station, Westbound. Finally, Budd wrote the script of Two mules for Sister Sara by Donal Siegel and directed in 1969 A time of dying produced by Audie Murphy. Rating : Better than average 7 out of 10. The picture will appeal to Randolph Scott fans and Western lovers

"Ride Lonesome" fully deserves its cult-movie status. Here the chemistry between the director Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott attains its highest level. Of course, as for any other cult movie, it would be desirable to see "Ride lonesome" several times to fully appreciate it. The story is very simple, and somewhat reminiscent of others by the distinguished western-writer Burt Kennedy, but it is dense with distinct themes and psychological nuances. The dialogue is perfect: extremely dry, sharp and laconic, but endowed with a remarkable sense of humour. We feel that the guys on the screen are more for action than for chats.

Boetticher merges the audience in the open freeness of wild nature, according to his trade-mark style of turning the landscape into a further character of his films. The photography and the use of color are magnificent. The action scenes are terse, (enough) realistic and much accurate in the movements of the actors. Particularly brilliant are the nocturnal scenes: the shadows which hide the faces are opposed to the glitter of metal objects (cups, fire-arms) and to the lights spread by Karen Steele's blond hair and white shirt. And these nocturnal scenes create a remarkable erotic atmosphere, due to the breathtaking presence of Steele as Mrs. Lane. It has been said that in Boetticher's films the Woman is never a real character, but rather a dreamed object of desire. "Ride Lonesome" is perhaps the best evidence of this theory: Karen Steele is so incredibly gorgeous that the viewer is led to see her more as a Goddess than as a woman. And thus we easily accept the instinctive respect paid to her by the male characters. Also note this subtlety: the Apaches attack the whites just because their chief wants to get Mrs. Lane. The power of Woman rules.

Any character is designed with accurate psychology, with excellent work by the whole cast. Randolph Scott, Karen Steele, Pernell Roberts, James Best are all commendable. I especially liked a very young James Coburn in the role of the naive cow-boy, living on the risky border between good and evil. Lee Van Cleef has a short role as the main villain Frank, but leaves his mark: look at his sneer and his body language when Frank realizes that he's going to face a mortal clash.

A marginal note: the Italian title of the movie sounds like "The tree of revenge". I venture to say that this title is better than the original one.

I greatly like "Ride Lonesome". You can enjoy it at two levels: either breath in the open spaces and relish the adventure, or make a deeper study of Boetticher's admirable style and technique.

Ride Lonesome is that rare B-film, one that eclipses in a wink most of its bigger budgeted brethren. The return of scripter Burt Kennedy (who had not done the two previous Scott/Boetticher films) to the Ranown company (founded by Randolph Scott and producer Harry Joe Brown), the close group harmony, resulted in an obviously glorious reunion for all concerned.

Shot entirely outdoors, like "The Tall T," we have large open spaces, but a tightly confined group. This time the bounty isn't gold or money - it's outlaw Billy John (James Best). Former sheriff Ben Brigade has captured him, counting on Billy John's brother Frank (Lee Van Cleef) to come get him. Brigade has a score to settle, the murder of his wife, and he intends to settle it at a tree that holds relevance to both lawman and outlaw. Scott is joined by two minor lawbreakers, in whose hope of amnesty provided by the turning over of Billy John to authorities, provides the alliance of adversaries so common to the Boetticher films. Pernell Roberts, the more worldly and intelligent of the two, like Brigade, is looking for personal redemption, and the hope of his own ranch once he settles down. He acts a big brother to the less intelligent, and basically decent, James Coburn, in his filmic debut, is a long way from his more forceful character that would surface in later westerns of Sturges and Peckinpah. Karen Steele is on hand again (she was in "Decision at Sundown"), the group finds her alone in a way station, threatened by the Indians who killed her husband. She serves as conscience and libido stimulator, and her breathtaking appearance is highlighted in what is one of the film's most humorous moments ("I said her eyes").

So, avoiding the Indians on their trail, and the threat of Frank's gang, Brigade leads the group to the inevitable showdown at the hanging tree that will determine the fate of the group, and the individual futures of each.

Ranown, Boetticher and Kennedy had one more film to go, the actor was slowing down - after years of averaging three per year, there were just two releases in both 1957 and 1958, Ride Lonesome was the only film for 1959, and 1960's Comanche Station would be the sole film for Scott until 1962's valedictory film known as Ride the High Country.

This is taut Western, filled with good phrasing and a good story, with a slight twist at the end. Ben Brigade (Randolph Scott) captures Billy John (James Best) for the bounty on his head. The twist is concerning Billy John's brother Frank (Lee Van Cleef) which I won't give away. Brigade meets up with Sam Boone (Pernell Roberts) and Whit (James Coburn) at a stage line swing station that belongs to Mr. & Mrs Lane. Mr. Lane is absent, killed by Indians, and the story basically is of Brigade taking Billy John to justice and Mrs Lane (Karen Steele) to safety, while a war party is after them and Frank and company are out to free Billy John.

It's once again a simple old school Western, this one not being quite as good as "The Tall T". Katherine Steele is just a little too much eye candy that seems a bit out of place for the time period. As is customary for many western heroines of the 50's she's got a hairdo that could only be possible in a hair salon with the equipment they had in the 50's.

James Best plays a part he was born for, that of the young smart-aleck killer, Pernell Roberts gives a standout performance, and Coburn plays Robert's thin as a rail sidekick Whit, in probably his first film role. Roberts and Whit play minor outlaws that are caught up in the events.

Lee Van Cleef is not as effective as he could have been, but in this, as in other of his pre-Leone speaking roles, he comes off as either a hot head or a two bit outlaw. His speech and his body movements are way way too fast, but that's direction, and it seems that that was the way he was typecast for most of the fifties. Zinnerman saw his look in High Noon and kept him silent and menacing. In this film he does something so despicable that there should have been way way more buildup to to the climax, but that is of course looking at the Western with Leone colored glasses. Now this despicable act that you never actually see really doesn't work since it's thrown out way too far towards the climax. This would work better if the scenario of events was shown leading up to the act via flashbacks, giving the audience some shockers. Too late to make a long story short, the film should have been emphasizing Van Cleef as much as Scott, but that's just not Boetticher's style.

To summarize, this is a great cheapie budget Western, and although the outdoor locations alone are a major part of the film, the only structures you see are the stage swing station and corrals and some abandoned ruins. More money was probably spent on stock and wranglers than art design. Again we get cowboy lore on the treatment of horses, and good Western slang. Scott is good as the man looking for revenge, and the irony involving the male characters is excellent. Scott is a good man doing a bad thing; Roberts and Coburn have done some bad things and are looking to go "good"/straight.

Another in the series of short but very good westerns with RS. Scott is a one man Brigade. Take the Tall T, Comanche Station and the others in the RS genre; mix em up throw em in the air and you come up with the next in the series. I don't mind but my wife keeps complaining the movie is the same as the last RS flick. True to his code, Scott doesn't show much interest in Jayne Mansfield-like Karen Steele. A standout performance for Pernell Roberts as the bad guy. James Best known for his Jimmy Stewart imitation to entertain Burt Reynolds in Hooper,is on hand for some interesting supporting acting. I didn't see the ending coming and I hate to leave you hanging so I won't say a word.