Ride, Vaquero!

King Cameron (Howard Keel) takes his wife Cordelia Cameron (Ava Gardner) to their ranch home in Texas. They find it burned down and their cattle slaughtered. It is apparently Mexican bandit José Esqueda (Anthony Quinn) who hates Americans. He and his gang show up in town. He needs his tooth pulled by the local dentist. He grew up with his right-hand man Rio (Robert Taylor).

Anthony Quinn outshines everybody. I really wish that he has another guy to play with, but the other guys are not up to his level. Robert Taylor has a few moments, but he can't match Quinn. Well, this has Ava Gardner and that's something.

Even though it's not great, Quinn's performance is memorable and he really looks - and plays - the part.

I'm also intrigued by a couple of brief scenes in this film - a wide shot of a cavalry fort and the shot of mounted troopers riding out look awfully like they came from "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon". Did John Ford help the producers fill a couple of small gaps?

Howard Keel looked much more at home in "Pagan Love Song".

Robert Taylor looks like he wore his "Billy the Kid" duds again.

It's difficult to find a good, crisp copy of the film, but worth the effort.

Ride, Vaquero! is directed by John Farrow and written by Frank Fenton. It stars Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel, Anthony Quinn, Kurt Kasznar and Ted de Corsa. Music is by Bronislau Kaper and cinematography by Robert Surtees.

Out of MGM and filmed in Ansco Color at Kanab in Utah (though story is set in Texas), Ride, Vaquero! is collectively unusual, bold and frustrating. Plot revolves around outlaws lead by bandido Esqueda (Quinn) refusing to let settlers and civilisation come to the Brownsville territory. So far so formulaic, then, but Esqueda's right hand man is Rio (Taylor), who was raised by Esqueda's mother and therefore they be adopted brothers. When King Cameron (Keel) and his wife Cordelia (Gardner) refuse to be shunted out of Brownsville, with King trying to rally the townsfolk against Esqueda, Rio starts to feel sympathy for the Cameron's.

What unfolds is a sort of Freudian Greek Tragedy, a love quadrilateral as Esqueda and Rio love each other in that manly brotherly way, Cordelia begins to love Rio, love which he is keen to reciprocate, while King will always love Cordelia no mater what. Action is competently put together by Farrow as it all builds to a big finale, which doesn't disappoint on narrative terms, and the airy location photography (this is one of the better Ansco Color productions I have seen) is delightful. While naturally there will be sacrifices and psychologically tinged twists along the way to keep the faithful interested.

Quinn is wonderfully ebullient, enjoying himself with a licence to chow down on the script with relish. Taylor is subdued, sleep walking through the film under direction to be a man of quiet menace and emotional confliction. Keel looks like he is desperate to sing a song, or just be some place else, while Gardner is required to just look pretty and pretty wistful from time to time. Kasznar as Father Antonio comes out in credit, but when the screenplay has him refusing stolen money to help the church - only to then have him 15 minutes later shooting away with rifle to kill his fellow man - the inconsistency in the production is further compounded.

Keel hated the boredom of the shoot, stuck out in the wilderness with nothing to do for months he said, and Gardner hated Farrow, citing him as a sleazy bully to women and horses! These complaints do show, the film feels like it's treading water, where if you take out Quinn you are left with what comes across as a bunch of actors working for food. Characterisations are not well drawn enough to make the promise of the mind matters work, and supporting players like Jack Elam wander in and out of the picture without due care and attention.

There's good intentions in the screenplay, where for 1953 this could have been ahead of its time and setting the bar for Freudian flavoured Westerns. While it's on it engages for sure, but once finished there's the distinct feeling that it was never all that it could have been. A shame really. 6/10

Strangely enough, the best acting job is turned in by Howard Keel. Quinn is, as usual, over the top (albeit, also per usual, entertainingly so) what with his yelling, snarling, cackling and sneering, while Rat Fink Bob, perhaps realizing he cannot compete with such antics, is monosyllabic, often to the point of incomprehension. Ava, as always, is on the wooden side, so that leaves the old Showboat songster, in the stolid, Paul Henried role and managing to unstiffen the fellow, as the guy who gives the most natural performance.

Alas, Keel's unpretentiousness does not extend to Frank Fenton's screenplay which has a tendency to go off on wild, philosophical tangents, especially when Kurt Kazner's priest is around, which is fairly often.

Bottom line: Typical John Farrow film. Good enough to keep you watching but not good enough to want to see it again. C plus.

PS...Almost forgot to mention a good, early Jack Elam bad guy role, thrown in for no extra charge.

While Western is not my favourite genre, it is a genre much appreciated by me and there are quite a number of classics in it. A big reason for seeing 'Ride Vaquero!' to me was the cast, most playing in very atypical roles apart from perhaps Anthony Quinn. Howard Keel's role being especially against type, being a rare non-singing role (have always loved his voice on a brief side note) and it sounded interesting as to whether Robert Taylor would fare well, did have my doubts, in one of his darkest roles.

'Ride Vaquero!' had a lot of well done elements and a lot to recommend. It is worth watching for any fans of Westerns and ones not very well known, also worth watching if you want to see something different from those starring John Wayne and those directed by John Ford and Howard Hawks for example. 'Ride Vaquero!' for me is not really a must recommend and is more a mild recommendation and a little above mixed bag level out of curiosity.

There are a lot of good things here, good things so more than good that it seems unfair and not plausible to rate the film below mixed bag level. A good starting point would be Robert Sutee's cinematography, which is pretty gorgeous. Sweeping and atmospheric. Another big plus is Bonislau Kaper's (another main interest point, have always liked him a lot as a composer) music score, that adds a lot to the atmosphere and rouses and moves in distinctive Kaper style.

On the whole, the cast were pretty good. Quinn comes off best, the role suits him really well (had no doubt that it would though) and he is deliciously unhinged. Keel is very charismatic and has a good deal of intensity. Ava Gardner is as lovely as ever. John Farrow's direction is accomplished enough and is above the material, he does direct the more action-oriented scenes thrillingly. Especially at the end.

However, 'Ride Vaquero' could have been better. Its main problem is the script, which came over as bland and underdeveloped and the dialogue could be stilted. The story was at times routine and could have done with more tension and tautness, some parts don't make much sense either or suspend disbelief (others have cited the biggest culprits).

Character motivations could have been a lot less vague, as you are left in the dark as to how some characters come to what they do and why they did it and it doesn't ring true as a result. Am not sure whether this is going to be a popular opinion, but Taylor didn't work for me in his role. Personally found him too sullen and stiff, and the role required a lot more dark intensity and charisma than what Taylor gave.

In summation, worth a look but only as a mild recommendation. 6/10