Riding Shotgun

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.

I'm glad to see that a majority of reviewers liked this film. I did, too. It's one Scott Western that's passed me by until now, though others are frequently shown on British TV.

The plot was more original than many 1950s' Westerns, and the town looked a little different to those so often seen. As has already been remarked, the townsfolk were a quirky lot, and there was some nice minor characterizations, especially the guy fondling a rope all the time.

What little love interest there was was unnecessary, doing nothing to the plot.

One might quibble at Scott's wish for a messenger to be sent to recall the posse. There wouldn't have been enough time to track it down and for it to return in time to combat the raid. And how obliging of Scott to ride so precisely under the tree that Bronson could jump on him. At least the revolvers ran out of ammunition after being fired six times, forcing their users to reload, unlike in some Westerns where they seem to have eight or more rounds in them.

I'll be happy to watch it again some time.

Larry DeLong(Scott) is Riding Shotgun on stagecoaches, keeping them safe. After a holdup, the town first thinks that he's a coward and then decide that he must be a part of the gang -- and they're gonna get him! Meanwhile, the real baddies are heading to town to rob the bank and only Scott can prevent that.

Not quite up to High Noon standards, but a good yarn. Randolph Scott comes through, once again!

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.

Anyone else got anything to say?

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