Donne di frontiera

Keeping in mind this western classic was released in 1949 more than seventy (70) years earlier when film censorship was at its peak. I felt that the director Mark Robson, took liberties with the films storyline about four loose and attractive saloon girls that was borderline risky for the times, and kudos to him for doing so.

The story is filled with personal stories of survival in the rough surrounding hilly countryside by the exiled saloon girls, three escaped convicts who come after the ladies and their rancher hero brothers the young Steve and older brother Clay played respectively by Claude Jarman Jr. And Robert Sterling.

It is a very entertaining classic western if you consider it was released in 1949 so keep that in mind when listening to the dialogue of the saloon ladies and how tame the escaped convicts seem to behave.

I give this early western a more than respectable 7 out of 10 IMDb rating.

The first western by Robson who had already made some extraordinary movies (who says they were Val Lewton's work?) such as "the seventh victim" 'the ghost ship" or "bedlam".And his western is quite good ,if not as mind -boggling as his precedent efforts.

First of all,Gloria Grahame,who was often cast in films noirs ,shines in her part of a dance hall gal who dreams to be a housewife and to educate her young protégé,Robert Sterling's kid brother:my favorite scenes show her teaching him the alphabet and the "true" culture;it's a destruction of the bad gal cliché;and I love when Sterling tells her that he knows a lot of things she can't teach him: the nature ,the animals,the weather,an empirical knowledge for sure ,but one that is more useful than the culture you get from the books,when you are in the wilderness tracked down by outlaws (John Ireland is the ideal bandit,but his part is underwritten and his relationship with the hero is skimmed over);it seems the director was more interested in the Sterling/Grahame relationship:a hero who is (perhaps?We are not told about it) illiterate but who demands a "respectable" woman for his wife :the other one is just good for a kiss,but you cannot marry a chick with a racy past;his kid brother knows better than he does:the young actor is excellent and endearing.

A rare thing in the forties (and in the westerns of the era),the action begins a few seconds before the cast and credits.

Usually, westerns have a lot more action than "Roughshod". This one, however, is a character study starring Robert Sterling and Gloria Grahame and is a likable, well made picture. Peculiar storyline has Sterling and his younger brother trying to herd some horses to another town. Along the way they encounter Grahame and 3 other dance hall girls with a broken-down wagon enroute elsewhere, having been deemed morally bankrupt and driven out of a neighboring town. Sterling is also being chased by a vengeful John Ireland and 2 other escaped cons for some payback.

The story is mainly about a budding -or not- romance between Sterling and Grahame which Sterling is trying to fight off. He is trying to maintain a righteous front for his younger brother played by Claude Jarman, Jr. in an excellent performance. As noted by other users, Gloria Grahame fans will enjoy seeing her in an admittedly routine role, but she has never looked prettier than here.

The action is all in the last 10 minutes in an exciting finale. It is an unremarkable, ultimately satisfying film that grows on you and lasts only 88 minutes. It almost makes you forget that is mostly a talking picture that could have used a little more energy and maybe some second unit stuff.

Gloria Grahame is Roughshod's major attraction, but bonuses are Jeff Corey in a small role, John Ireland as a lean young killer, and Claude Jarman Jr. carrying as serious a teenage role as a western may offer. Robert Sterling honestly manages the male lead. All the supporting roles are a testament to the kind of dependable quality the studios were delivering in the mid-20th century.

The most pleasant surprise may be the number of women's roles--the four bar girls, each of whom has her own denouement, including the accidental reunion of one with her decently grieving parents. As other posters have noted, the movie handles such scenes with minimal sentimentality or chatter, so that the strong feminine presence operates within the proper western decorum.

As a student of plot, I felt continually (if mildly) impressed by the story's layers and crossings. The bad guys' journey interweaves with the good guys' journey, which involves driving 10 free horses and assuming responsibility for the bar girls who break down on their path. One genre hallmark of a western is the story's geography or landscape. The good guys take another trail to avoid the bad guys, which leads the brassiest of the saloon-girls to hitch up with a gold prospector. The only wince-factor is the dependence on Gloria Grahame's character's reckless driving, but when that results in some of her clothes spilling in the river, those clothes float downstream and signal to the bad guys where the good guys are.

A lot happens in about 90 minutes, but it's all a bit subdued like its male lead. Director Mark Robson worked with Orson Welles and Val Lewton, so the quality-floor is high throughout. The best visuals are the long shots through the landscape where the different parties see each other; otherwise the film's composition, in keeping with its feminine content, is tight, personal, and intimate. The final gunfight is modest but, again, honest in its way, like the whole movie.

Born in 1965, I cannot count how many westerns I watched as a child, not including TV western series' reruns ad nauseum, such as Gunsmoke and Bonanza. I stopped watching them in the '80s, except for maybe the critically acclaimed feature films that are few and far between since then. But when I saw Ms. Grahame was in the cast, it piqued my interest; and I'm glad I gave it a go.

It's your average plot. Good guy 20s-something cowboy and his teenage brother set out to deliver ten horses to a buyer. Hot on their trail are three escaped convicts bent on revenge. To spice things up, the two brothers encounter four stranded women along the way and agree to let them ride in their wagon.

You can pretty much figure the rest. If you can't, then you must be a newcomer to the genre. But what really propels this one into the much-better-than-average category is Ms. Grahame.

Usually associated with sassy, unstable dames that deliver sarcastic quips with a dangerously sharp tongue, here she's given a much more approachable, likeable character to play. And she does a great job of showing us her softer side. But don't be fooled, she can still keep up with the rest of them.

The cast is good The direction is good. The editing is good. And the music score fits very nicely, especially with a melodic yet bold opening theme that sets the tone, composed by Roy Webb, a sadly overlooked, strong contributor to film music.

As good as it is, it's still like pulling teeth to get me to watch a western. Just like war movies. Grew up on those, too.