La sanglante embuscade

Joel McCrea stars in Gunsight Ridge as an undercover agent for Wells Fargo which has been getting regularly robbed on a certain stagecoach run through the territory of Addison Richard who is the sheriff. He's not getting the job done so McCrea's brought in.

The title refers to a particularly rough stretch of country where McCrea has his final showdown with the bad guy or at least the chief bad guy.

There are two sets of them, one is a group of four cowhands from George Chandler's ranch who do a little cattle rustling on the side, two of them western standbys L.Q. Jones and Morgan Woodward. The other is a man of mystery who plays an exquisite piano and goes by the unlikely western name of Velvet. This is a guy who clearly has some issues which in a better script would have been more explicitly dealt with. Mark Stevens may have had his career role in playing this man.

Addison Richard gives a nice performance as an aging sheriff who won't quit until the stagecoach bandit is taken dead or alive. McCrea does what he can to help and the sight of Richard's pretty daughter Joan Weldon gives him all that more interest.

Viewers might also note the presence of farm girl Carolyn Craig who helps both Stevens and then McCrea. She's one lonely girl with a budding libido and an itch to get off the farm. In a bit role as a bartender is Dan Blocker who with his frame and voice you can't miss.

Not one of Joel McCrea's best westerns, but his fans should like it.

Other posters are right to mention this film's formal qualities—strong acting, excellent b/w cinematography, and poignant touches like the villain's piano interludes and Carolyn Craig as the farm girl—along with the film's historical status as a late specimen of the B western film when television was chock-a-block with shoot-em-ups.

This transitional historical moment gives Heartbreak Ridge a hybrid quality, as it combines the movie western's intensity and depth of character with the TV western's bare staging. The script itself could hardly offer less to work with, with the back-stories for the hero and villain being provided only by Joel McCrea's Irish affectations and Mark Stevens's 2 or 3 lines about having the talent to play the piano but not the money or leisure. "Gunsight Ridge" is a good title, but if like me you wait in westerns for at least some allusion to explain a title, for this one you have to wait until someone casually mentions a border obstruction that will provide the setting for the final showdown.

The western in any medium is always fairly minimalist—the more I've watched, the more words seem only pauses in action, landscape, and music. Given such plain fare, skill matters more than brilliance: for instance, Joel McCrea could ride a horse, and the cinematographer knew how to capture his skill. Cameo bonus: the groom in the quirky border town marriage is the late Jody McCrea, who would play the comic Bonehead in early 60s surfing-beach movies with Annette and Frankie.

This one is pretty simple, if you like McCrea you will like the movie. He plays the same character he plays in pretty much all his westerns and he does it well. Its a calm measured presentation with an undercurrent of the potential for action when needed. The story is good (not unique, but good), some fun scenes and some good action. Give it a go!

In this western starring Joel McRea, the star goes undercover along the Arizona border to investigate several nasty border ruffians. Mark Stevens co-stars and as always turns in a fine performance. The script is good and holds the viewers interest throughout.

Joel McRea was at his best in this western detective yarn..... a story not unlike those from his radio series Tales of the Texas Rangers . A great cast of western character actors make the most of an interesting story.

Any western with this cast would be exciting and this film does not disappoint. Enjoy this one, they don't make 'em like this anymore ...

Pretty fair Western. The script meanders some, but with characters coming in and out of the story line, it's not a conventional screenplay. McCrea plays a stagecoach agent on the trail of hold-up man Mark Stevens. They're not exactly routine good-guy bad-guy. As a deputy sheriff, McCrea enjoys collecting county taxes and getting a 10% cut-- and how many tax collectors have you seen in a Western? Also, bad guy Stevens plays the moody piano, not well, but enough to suggest a sensitive soul lurking somewhere inside-- and how many Western villains have you heard named "Velvet"!. Then there's teen-age Carolyn Craig alone on the prairie, doing a good frontier imitation of Debbie Reynolds, and ready to hook up with anything in pants. I like the four rowdy cowhands who take about 10 minutes to totally trash a cabin. The scene may be unnecessary, but it sure looks like someone's having a lot of fun. Also worth noting is the final shootout, which takes good advantage of the scenery and reminds me of the final shootout in the classic Winchester 76. All in all, there are some offbeat touches for a cowboy movie of the 1950's. And besides, any film with that great Western star Joel McCrea is worth watching.