When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder

I think this is a great movie. I've watched it over and over and it still grips my attention. I have a CENSORED copy that I made when it showed on TV but I have been searching for years for an UNCENSORED copy. If anyone knows of where I can find one, please, leave a note. I have not seen it on any of the cable movie channels. If anyone has any idea of how to obtain a copy, please leave a message or an email address and I will contact you. Thanks! The movie is psychologically tense but there is also abundant humor. I especially love the line when asked by the border patrol if he had anything to declare he said something like "just a couple of bottles of wine and a considerable amount of cocaine in my sock". This was so astonishing because it was guaranteed to get him searched and he was indeed smuggling drugs across the border. He was just really off the wall nuts. If you ever get a chance to see this movie, do it, but first leave me a note so I can also watch it!

It's been over 20 years since I've seen this movie and it's every bit as good as I remember it. Marjoe Gortner is most convincing as a sociopath tormenting small town folks and passersby with a touching love story in the background. Great soundtrack too! When You Coming Back Red Ryder? deserves to be rereleased on DVD.

I recall thinking this movie would be uninteresting when I first saw it on HBO back in 1984, but this in not the kind of movie I could forget about a month later. No wonder so many stage recreations have been done. The many characters are so identifiable, so authentic in their behavior. I have to wonder where the writers got their material. As one who was born and spent many years in west Texas, this is like a compressed version of many years of my life. Thank God, the extreme bad guys like Teddy are rare, but they do exist. I recall a guy like him who started a serious fire at the school during the summer. It's too bad that this movie is not available anywhere or ever shown these days.

This unique psychological thriller is a decent adaptation of Mark Medoff's brilliant play in which a psychopathic Viet-Nam vet holds a diverse group of individuals hostage in an isolated New Mexico diner in 1968. He then slowly exposes each of the their fears, faults, desires and ulterior motives while challenging American ideals, morals and heroism in transition.

This rarely seen film's box office was marred its long title, difficult to market subject matter and lack of well-known stars. However, each of the half dozen or so actors turn in brilliant performances as their fascades are slowly torn down by the vet (played by former child evangelist, Marjoe Gortner) whose intuition and captivating rants are exceeded only by his intimidating demeanor, and mind-blowing innuendo - the crux of which is born upon Red whose James Dean persona makes him an easy target considering the timeframe.

Comparatively speaking, this film can best be be described as a darker, grown up version of "The Breakfast Club" although much more fascinating and thought-provoking.

I seen this movie years ago on television and remember thinking then that it was too violent for TV. I wish I had seen the theatrical version. This lost gem of a movie stuck in my mind. Sure, like any movie it has it's tedious parts but as it progresses it just gets better & better.

The end of William Peter Blatty's "The Nith Configuration" borrows from this movie. The ending in RR is one of the most intelligent best endings I have seen in any movie ever. I noticed on other reviews nobody explains or tells of the "SURPRISE ENDING". So, I will not either. I just know it has probably one of the best endings in film next to "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry".