O Diabo Feito Mulher

In Wyoming , when his sweetheart is murdered , then an embittered cowboy (Arthur Kennedy who was playing a young man , he was actually three years older than Mel Ferrer) hunting enemies and on the trail of his fiancee's murderer . First with a posse, then by himself , to an outlaw hideout ranch called Chuck-a-Luck (it means a gambling game commonly played in saloons in the Southwest) . As he arrives in Rancho Notorious and the main question is the following : to guess the killer in the mansion . Then , he falls for a dance girl , Altar Keane (Marlene Dietrich who sings some songs in his usual style) , ranch owner that is a refuge for thieves and she posing as an upright rancher and horse seller . In the ranch there is a motley group of bandits (Frank Ferguson , William Frawley , Francis McDonald , Jack Elam and George Reeves with a scar on his cheek) led by Frenchy Fairmont (Mel Ferrer) who scheme to rob a bank in Clay Springs city .

This traditional Western contains drama , thrills , rousing action , frontier adventure , shootouts , and exuberant outdoors , though including matte painting images . This vintage epic Western turns out to be a throughly entertaining picture that will appeal to Western fans . It is an interesting flick in which an initial murder triggering off a tale of hatred , vengeance and a triangular love . A ¨period¨ sample'of 50s westerns , but different to common themes . Fine acting and a lot of duels , shots and killings . Medium budget Western for all those who love moody , thoughtful westerns . This is a very good Western by Fritz Lang , he made three , there's only one better than this , and that's ¨The return of Frank James¨ . Good performances for all-star-cast . Nice acting by Marlene Dietrich at her slinkiest , in fact Rancho Notorious is a must for Marlene fans . As Arthur Kennedy as a ranch hand called Vern Haskell who pursues the killers his girlfriend, following the trail to an outlaw's roost . Kennedy holds his twisted expression to great effect as the relentless cowboy hunting a hidden killer . Acceptable Mel Ferrer as Frenchy Fairmont , an outlaw really enamored to Altar and who defends his love .

The film displays a brilliant cinematography in rich Technicolor by expert cameraman Hal Mohr who had previously photographed Marlene Dietrich in Arizona (1939) . In addition , attractive and evocative musical score by Ken Darby , Emil Newman and uncredited Hugo Friedhofer and Arthur Lange ; including some catching western songs . The motion picture produced by Howard Welsch and RKO was tight as well as seethingly directed by Fritz Lang with great enthusiasm and in his particular style . This was Lang's third Western , following his favorite ¨The return of Frank James¨ with Henry Fonda and ¨Western Union¨ , a Darryl F Zanuck's 20th Century Fox production about construction of the glamorous ¨Western Union¨ route from Omaha , Nebraska , to Salt Lake City , Utah with Robert Young and Dean Jagger . The German Fritz showed himself a master of the most American of genres . As Lang directed masterfully all kind of genres as Noir cinema as ¨Big heat¨ , ¨Scarlet Street¨ and ¨Beyond a reasonable doubt¨ , Epic as ¨Nibelungs¨, suspense as ¨Secret beyond the door¨ , ¨Clash by night¨ and Lang's trilogy about Nazi time as ¨Cloak and dagger¨, ¨Man hunt¨ and ¨Hangmen also die¨, and of course , Sci-Fi with the classic ¨Metropolis¨. Rating Rancho Notorious : Better than average . Well worth watching .

"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.

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.

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.

Chuck-a-Luck is a hole in the wall type ranch where men with prices on their heads hide out and are given protection by Altar Keane (Marlene Dietrich) and her lover Frenchy Fairmont (Mel Ferrer) for ten percent of the loot brought in my the outlaws. Chuck-a-Luck is called Rancho Notorious in the film's title, which does sound somewhat better. Unfortunately a terrible narrative theme, "The Legend of Chuck-a-Luck" used throughout the movie becomes very grating to the ears. The ballad singer William Lee (who is he anyway?) doesn't help the situation. Fortunately the songs chosen for the talented Marlene Dietrich to perform are much better (actually one "Gypsy Davey" is an old British ballad that Woody Guthrie turned into a cowboy song). Her renditions are not quite on the level of her "See What The Boys In The Backroom Will Have" from the western classic "Destry Rides Again" but are still captivating. (Interesting that she played a saloon girl named Frenchy in "Destry" whereas this time her lover is named Frenchy.)

This is one of few so-called adult westerns from the 1950's that actually lives up to that label. The flashback barroom scene where the soiled angels are riding their customers in a drunken mock horse race as jockeys would ride horses shows how fun and games in Old West saloons really took place. The whores are not prima donnas as oft times shown in Hollywood films. Pay particular attention to the gross fat showgirl trying to ride a much smaller client. It is funny and repulsive at the same time. Fritz Lang takes away all window dressing. Even Marlene Dietrich looks much more slutty and rough around the edges than she did in "Destry." Being over a decade older gives even more authenticity to Dietrich's character. She looks like a much older Lola Lola from "Blue Angel."

Mel Ferrer is an actor with a somewhat limited range. In the right role he could shine. His best acting was done in a movie that came out just before this one, "The Brave Bulls." But his second best role is as Frenchy in "Rancho Notorious." He fits his part much better than Arthur Kennedy fits his. Kennedy as a gunslinging rancher is fine but Kennedy the lover takes a suspension of belief, especially as Marlene Dietrich's lover. One can just imagine how he would look in the morning after one night with Altar Keane.

Fritz Lang's direction is spectacular. He captures all the nuances of the characters. His flashback technique at the first of the movie to define Altar Keane's persona is reminiscent of Orson Welles' milestone direction of "Citizen Kane." Then he progresses to an almost film noir western in color. The cinematography is much better in some parts of the film. It is not as effective when Frenchy and Vern (Arthur Kennedy) are together in the hills (the background sometimes looks phony) than when interior sets are used. Perhaps this relates to a money problem producing the show.

Another enjoyable facet of the feature is the gallery of colorful character actors who all do superlative jobs. George Reeves (tv's Superman) is lovingly menacing as a womanizing gun toting ambusher. Jack Elam is fine as a distrustful negative thinking thief. Frank Ferguson plays the outlaw called Preacher who prays and reads from the Bible for special guidance in robbing and killing. William Frawley (better known as Fred Mertz) shows a mean side playing a double dealing saloon gambler who fires Altar. Fuzzy Knight is an honest barber who tries to help Vern out of a mess. This time he doesn't stutter. Several other notables such as Tom London, Kermit Maynard, and Harry Woods have interesting bit parts.

If Lang could have borrowed Tex Ritter from High Noon to do an appropriate theme, "Rancho Notorious" would have been a winner all the way.