Rancho Notorious

First of all, the word "noir" is thrown around much too carelessly, so let's be clear: This is a Western. Pure and simple. In fact it's a pretty bad Western, really, but somehow it manages to be a lot of fun. You've got Marlene Dietrich a little past her prime with plucked and painted eyebrows that leave her facial expression in a perpetual state of surprise. There's a gunslinger named "Frenchy Fairmont," and a warbly sung narrative song throughout reminding us that this is a tale of murder and revenge. I especially liked the line (I don't remember it exactly) spoken by a doctor who rattles off a list of a cowboy's injuries and sums up by saying, "So, really, he's pretty dead."

"Rancho Notorious" isn't one of the genre's better entries, but see it some time just for its entertainment value.

When his fiancé Beth is raped and murdered during a robbery, peace-loving rancher Vern Haskell sets out to track down the man that did it. Driven by a desire for revenge more than justice, Haskell follows the trail to a casino and bordello called Chuck-A-Luck. Here he follows his leads to Alter Keane and gunslinger French Fairmont; they take him onto their staff at their horse ranch and gang HQ and Haskell hopes to use his cover to get his closer to finding out who it was that raped his girl. However in keeping his cover, Haskell finds himself drawn into their world more and more.

The staples of westerns of the period are all here – revenge, Technicolor, songs and romance; however this film opens with a rape (and it is fairly obvious that it was a violent rape) and a nice man who descents into violent anger. In a way the film makes this its central theme but it doesn't continue in this very strong vein and softens it somewhat with the addition of romance and musical interludes. From here on in it is still enjoyable but never marks itself out as more than a solid genre western; the complexities that I had hoped would consume him were not to be found in Haskell to any great degree. Despite this the plot still works well enough to engage and the gruff pace avoids sentimentality and makes the tough romance easier to swallow in context. The action is roundly enjoyable and Lang directs well within the sets, providing some good shots that stick in the mind.

The cast are mixed but generally meet the standard required of them. Dietrich may have demanded she be made to look as young as possible but her age helps stand her apart from the usual love interest actresses. She is tough and enjoyable in her role but I could have done without the songs. Kennedy is reasonably good but not too comfortable with his character – he is either a white knight or a gurning ball of rage; subtlety is not his key word. Ferrer is lively and fun and makes more of his character than the genre usually allows the "other man" character to do. Support from Elam, Reeves and others is all solid enough to make it work.

So an enjoyable genre western then but a bit disappointing for throttling back after such a tough start. The standard revenge plot is made more interesting by the change in Haskell but it could have been better; meanwhile the usual action, songs and romance all work pretty well and will easily please genre fans.

The Western is so unique, so internalised, and so full of instantly-recognisable motifs, that many Westerns from the classic era take on the look and feel not of the western United States, but some surreal and separate country, as far removed from America as anywhere else. This was especially the case when the increasingly European production crews in Hollywood produced their skewed yet affectionate takes on this "most American of genres".

Rancho Notorious at first comes across as a "noir" Western, at least if one looks at the Sylvia Richards story and Daniel Taradash screenplay, but it's much more than that. Director Fritz Lang probably had much less to do with the screenplay than is sometimes claimed (he was never a particularly great writer, even in his native German), but he has a whole lot to do with the tone of the picture. Far from turning this into an anti-western, he makes use of sweeping landscapes, rough-looking saloons and typical cowboy business, the sort of thing some revisionist filmmakers eschewed, but they are all given that typical Lang look of zigzagging paths and stark diagonal lines. He also injects that stylised rhythmic feel that harks back to his silent pictures or the bizarre semi-musical gangster movie You and Me (1938). A montage of gritty faces underscores a few of the songs, while a mysterious puff of smoke drifts onto the screen as Marlene Dietrich decides whether or not to gamble the last of her money. The impression is of a Western full of exaggerated cliché, and yet totally remote from the cosy cowboy flick.

The second crucial figure in Rancho Notorious is the other German émigré, Fraulein Dietrich. Although Dietrich is not really known as a Western star, her only other appearance in the genre being Destry Rides Again in 1939, her character in Rancho Notorious seems to be a play upon her old screen persona. It seems to chime particularly true with her real career trajectory that everyone remembers Altar Keane's name, a few have some sordid stories about her, but no-one seems to know quite what has happened to her now. Dietrich plays the part sublimely, conjuring up some of her old magic, tinged with the weariness of middle-age. Her best moments are in the series of flashbacks in which her character is introduced – her gleeful cheating in the "horse" race scene, or the disdainfulness with which she brushes off a would-be admirer in the gambling joint. She has the air of someone who has been round the block a bit, and yet makes it eminently clear why men still love her and fight over her. The very worthy Arthur Kennedy is ostensibly the lead player, although it is appropriate he is billed below Dietrich not just because she was a bigger star, but because she really is the heart of this movie.

Rancho Notorious is rather a cheap and cheerful offering, with the all the production values of the trashy B-Westerns that this era was full of. And yet it has something that even some of the most prestigious and professional pictures do not. Everyone involved seems to have been working on the same wavelength. There is the stripped-down production design of Wiard Ihnen and washed out Hal Mohr cinematography, which help to give it this bleak, distant imagery. Then there's the casting in smaller roles, stereotypically Western yet almost comically over-the-top, like the coroner who pronounces a man "reeeaal dead", or the moustachioed old-timer who imagines the ranch as some sort of romantic hideaway. And finally those haunting and twisted takes on the cowboy ballads penned by Ken Darby. Together they create a compelling view of the west, not as it really was, but as it has been imagined – in this instance, a dream of the Old West a few shades away from a nightmare.

"Rancho Notorious" is a beautifully atmospheric and suspenseful film. Best known for his expressionist black & white suspense thrillers, director Fritz Lang brings the same qualities to this Technicolor western.

Although she must have been in her fifties when the film was made, Dietrich looks absolutely gorgeous. She also seems to be having lots of fun with the part, in a sense reprising her character from "Destry Rides Again." It's never explained how this woman with the strange German accent ended up in the Wild West, and we don't really care. By the way, Dietrich's performance in these two films was the basis for Madeline Kahn's great parody in "Blazing Saddles."

The one thing that really stands out in my mind about this film is how effectively the suspense builds. The tension leading up to Vern's discovery of the killer's identity is almost unbearable, and Lang makes us wait until the film's last five minutes for the inevitable score-settling gunfight.

In a period of film history when westerns were a dime a dozen, this one really stands out as a true classic.

With it being directed by the great Fritz Lang (a director with a great and distinctively Expressionistic visual and directing style, with 'M' and 'Metropolis' being two of the finest examples) and starring Marlene Dietrich (especially fond of her work with Josef von Sternberg and in 'Witness for the Prosecution'), 'Rancho Notorious' had a lot of interest value. Likewise with the story idea.

'Rancho Notorious' may not be my idea of a great film, especially for one with such a great director and an actress as talented as Dietrich. This is not to say that 'Rancho Notorious' is bad. It is far from that. While it is problematic and far from being one of Lang's best, in a way it's somewhat of a lesser effort, to me it was quite good and an interesting take on the genre. Strange and over-the-top but on the most part it's not in a bad way.

Its weak point is the main theme/song. It is used far too much, like over-explanatory narration in song form, and the actual theme is grating and heavy-handed. Didn't even think it fitted much stylistically either (sounding too jaunty for a film that started off in a gritty fashion) and the cheesiness of some of the words added to the out of kilter feel. Seeing as it features heavily, it was a big problem and made me not think highly of the music much.

The film is cheap-looking in the sets, which never look authentic and more hastily-made studio-bound settings that look like they were constructed on the remainder of a budget where most of it was blown hiring Lang and Dietrich. Arthur Kennedy's performance is slightly uneven, mostly he's fine but in the more romantic parts he looks uncomfortable and more chemistry (though it's there) with Dietrich would have been welcome.

Dietrich however, even when past prime, looks luminous and brings the right amount of charisma and toughness. Something that Kennedy also displays in his best moments. A relatively cast against type Mel Ferrer is lively support and George Reeves and Jack Elam are just as solid. Lang himself fares very well here, his direction is stylish and moody with some nice creative touches.

Also found 'Rancho Notorious' to boast some ravishingly striking cinematography. The rest of the songs are nicely sung and are placed and used better, even if one questions the necessity. The film gets off to a wonderfully gritty start that one does wish was carried further, though the over-the-top-ness was actually entertaining still and didn't jar as much as it sounds. The tension simmers beautifully and the climax scintillates, the lack of sentimentality was appreciated.

Summing up, intriguing, for Lang completests and to see how a different take on a Western can fare, and well done though Lang did much better. 7/10 Bethany Cox