Bullwhip

"Bullwhip" is a romantic comedy with a Western setting. The hero, Steve Dailey, is in jail waiting to be hanged on a charge of murder- he says it was self-defence- when he is offered his freedom on condition he marries an unknown young woman. According to the Judge she needs a husband in order to fulfil and condition of her late father's will, which stipulated that she could only inherit his estate if married.

Unsurprisingly, Dailey accepts this offer, setting in motion a plot particularly convoluted even by the standards of rom-coms. The unknown woman turns out to be Cheyenne O'Malley, the half-Indian daughter of an Irish fur-trader and heiress to a considerable fortune. Cheyenne is a tough, independent woman- the film's title derives from the whip she always carries- and she and Dailey take an immediate dislike to one another, thus setting up the standard rom-com cliché that true love always follows hatred at first sight. In another complication, Dailey is being trailed by a hired gunman who has been hired not only to kill him (by the Judge, who wants his part in the murky affair hushed up) but also to keep him alive (by another fur trader who is hoping to go into partnership with Dailey once he has taken over his wife's business).

The film contains echoes of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew", with Dailey as Petruchio and Cheyenne as Katharina. The Western was, generally, a male-dominated genre; I can think of plenty of well-known examples without a single significant female character, and plenty more where the female characters are only there to provide the hero's love-interest or to be protected by the hero against the villains. There were, of course, Westerns with a strong female lead- Joan Crawford in "Johnny Guitar" is a good example- but these tended to be the exception rather than the rule.

Even films which did have a leading female figure could end by reasserting traditional gender roles; the hard-bitten heroine of "Calamity Jane", for example, ends up by swapping her buckskins for a frilly dress and settling down to married life, an ending for which we have already been subconsciously prepared by the casting of Doris Day, an actress better known for romantic comedy as an action-adventure heroine. "Bullwhip" tells a similar story, the transformation of its heroine from a proud, independent woman to a submissive, domesticated wife, as Cheyenne learns to accept her husband's authority. She tries to use her bullwhip on him, but soon wishes she hadn't.

There will doubtless be many today who would regard the attitudes revealed by films like this as offensive, but they were fairly commonplace in the cinema of the fifties, and not only in Westerns. Even when judged by the standards of the fifties, however, "Bullwhip" does not work particularly well as a film. A romantic comedy on the "Taming of the Shrew" theme needs a much more dominant hero than the rather colourless Guy Madison, an actor whom I had not come across before except for a minor role in "Since You Went Away". (If this film is typical of the standard of his work, it is hardly surprising that he is no longer a household name). Rhonda Fleming is better as the fiery red-headed Cheyenne, although she is not good enough to carry the film on her own. Her looks, moreover, do not really suggest the Indian blood with which she is credited by the script.

"Bullwhip" is typical of the many Western B-movies that were churned out by the studios in the fifties. Such films were rarely spectacularly bad, and this one is not. Technically, it is competently made, the actors for the most part play their parts adequately if not particularly well. Nevertheless, it never rises far above the level of the mediocre, which it might have done had there been a greater rapport between the two leads. 5/10

I was intrigued by the idea of Bullwhip but the resulting story/plot is full of holes, awkward direction at times, and two leads with little romantic chemistry between them left me feeling very disappointed. The depiction of the Indians is overly simplistic and while I generally like Rhonda Fleming, I found it unbelievable that she was part Indian. This was my introduction to Guy Madison and I think he does a fine job, but the rest of the cast/performances were unremarkable. If you're a fan of the Western genre then check it out but for everyone else, I would giddy-up on by.

So this starts out with our framed hero in a jail cell who agrees to marry a woman to get out of jail and then his buddy arrives, an assassin misses a shot at him, a sheriff(?) fires at them and his buddy kills the sheriff and then he rides after his new wife's pack train and when he catches up, he takes it over.

The assassin is following him but seems to appreciate his friendship and ends up getting all the money for (not) killing him anyway.

I don't like the Hollywood disrespect for the law, but the girl vs. Guy interplay is entertaining, and Rhonda Fleming is eye candy par excellence with every male viewer wishing he was in that covered wagon with her. (Why not just offer her a massage?)

Her father who owns the shipping company dies, but she's an Indian princess. It should have been clarified that she had been captured by the Indians and raised as one of their own.

And Iron Eyes Cody looking good! I wish he were still with us too.

Rhonda's bio says she had 5? 6? Marriages and ended up with a son and 4 great-grandchildren. She definitely should have had daughters too.

BEAUTIFUL woman!

To be honest I had heard this was pretty bad before I decided to watch it, but I'm never one to let others influence my viewings, in fact I'm more likely to watch something out of defiance! Bullwhip had one thing going for me before the viewing anyway, the fact that Rhonda Fleming and those gorgeous eyes was in it. The picture isn't very good, and it is in fact very morally dubious, all the characters are corrupt and shifty in one way shape or form, all motivated by greed or egocentric victories, which is all well and good if the surrounding film can at least do justice to a bunch of despicable people to create a taut climax. Sadly it doesn't, and as the finale fills your eyes with sugar you can't help shouting out that you have been cheated into watching a pretty bad film. Nobody in the cast come out with any credit, with lead man Guy Madison particularly wooden in the extreme.

Not even the lovely Rhonda can make me recommend this to anyone. 3/10

Bullwhip casts Guy Madison as a man with an interesting predicament. He got framed for a murder that was self defense by Judge Don Beddoe working with Rhonda Fleming the mixed racial owner and boss of a freight line. She's got a huge advantage over her competitors being the daughter of a Cheyenne chief her wagons get safe passage through their territory.

But she also by the terms of her father's will has to have a husband in order to inherit the company. So poor Madison gets framed for a murder and then gets a signed release from Beddoe.

After that there's any number of people who want to see Madison alive or dead as their interests dictate. And there are some whose views change as far as Madison is concerned one of them being Fleming. As for Guy now that he's married he wants to assert his marital prerogatives in all fields. That especially works with the Cheyenne given their alpha male point of view.

Rhonda Fleming does well in a part that I'm sure was written with Barbara Stanwyck in mind. Though I doubt their are not too many mixed bloods that have her distinctive titian tresses.

In spite of a really stupid title song sung by Frankie Laine over the opening credits Bullwhip is a good little western with memorable supporting performances by Don Beddoe as one crooked and roguish judge and James Griffith as a gunman with shifting loyalties. Fans of the stars will approve.