Imdb Black in the Saddle Again
Surprisingly, a flake limp.
I dearest Randolph Scott westerns and have seen most of his films. However, dissimilar the vast majority of his wonderful films, this 1 left me feeling rather indifferent. Some of it is because the plot is oh so familiar, some of it is because the villains aren't particularly believable or interesting (Alexander Knox and Richard Rober were just likewise bland for their roles) only I think a lot of it was because the motivations of the baddies were just too vague. It was like they were bad considering they were caricatures--non real people. Certain, Knox'southward character was supposed to be jealous...only this didn't seem plenty to explain his actions. And, oddly, for once, Randolph Scott also seemed aimless--at least for office of the film.
Another problem, and I've seen this in a couple other Scott films is that the stunt doubles simply didn't look like the people they were doubling for in the motion-picture show. While the divergence between the stunt homo and Scott wasn't every bit bad as the i in I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA!, it was pretty close. Again and once again during the fight at the cabin by the waterfall, you could clearly run into it wasn't him.
Despite all these issues, I am not saying that this is a bad western---it isn't a especially inspired or interesting one. And, from Randolph Scott you only wouldn't expect ordinary. This was 100% ordinary.
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Range War Western
Big rancher Alexander Knox has married Joan Leslie former girlfriend of smaller rancher Randolph Scott. Knox is a heart-searching jealous sort of man and wants Scott out the territory. He hires some gunslingers headed by Richard Rober to do the job.
Scott'due south a 'peaceable homo' in the tradition of Wild Beak Elliott, just don't provoke him too much. Merely Knox is determined to start a range war out of jealousy.
It becomes an open state of war subsequently Rober kills brothers Cameron Mitchell and Richard Crane who piece of work for Scott. And the wild part is that Scott's at present taken a fancy to Ellen Drew.
A previous reviewer said that Alexander Knox was miscast in a western. True he isn't a typical western actor, simply a whole lot of people went west to brand names for themselves of all kinds. Knox does a good chore of the brooding and jealous rancher with a deep seated inferiority complex.
At present it'southward as well truthful that Richard Rober is a petty likewise nattily dressed for a villain, but that sure is a western stereotype. I think he made a very good villain in this western. Rober was tragically killed in an motorcar accident shortly later on this picture show was finished. A adept career in villainy was cut short.
A lot of plot similarities to this and The Violent Men likewise done past Columbia Pictures a few years later on. It'south a good entry from the Randolph Scott western collection.
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"Information technology's a piffling warm in in that location, Mister."
Warning: Spoilers
Here'southward a Randolph Scott Western with a very perplexing ending. The character of Laurie Bidwell Isham (Joan Leslie) was then inconsistent it managed to spoil what could have been an effective story. OK, she married Will Isham (Alexander Knox) for his wealth and appetite later throwing over Owen Merritt (Scott), the laid back rancher. Having second thoughts about the whole affair made sense, but afterward she planned to run off with Owen and so opted to stay with the heel, that only ripped it. For the writers, information technology seemed similar a necessary angle for Scott'due south character to close the bargain with Nan Melotte (Ellen Drew), but information technology should have been handled a lot more cleverly. Oh well.
Otherwise the story moved along at a nice pace and delivered it'south share of action and suspense. One matter that seems virtually impossible to me though, and it'south happened in a handful of Westerns I've seen, is how easily one can undo the hitch on a runaway carriage the manner Owen did in this one. Information technology'due south often done with railroad cars also, and I bet if y'all tried information technology yourself y'all'd strike out a hundred out of a hundred times because of the pressure forces at work.
I saw John Russell'due south proper noun in the opening credits and darn if I didn't recognize him when he showed up equally the taciturn henchman Hugh Clagg. The movie staged a fairly impressive one on 1 between Russell and Scott, that had to be carried outside subsequently the motel they were in fell autonomously. Seriously, you have to meet it for yourself. They had a squeamish tumble downwardly the hillside too, but I had to wonder why Clagg's equus caballus would accept been waiting for him where he landed to make a getaway. Just like I wondered how Owen and Nan managed to drive their carriage up the mount in the first place. If there was a clear trail to that cabin, why didn't Clagg utilise it to get in that location?
But tell you what, Randolph Scott didn't permit me downward in the wardrobe department. He donned his trademark all black outfit for the last showdown with the baddies, complementing information technology with a nice bandanna flourish. Bad guy Isham didn't make it to the end of the motion picture, and then you're left to wonder whether Laurie wound up selling out to Merritt subsequently he closes with Nan in a clinch. And steenkin' badges aside, Alfonso Bedoya fulfills his picture show long wish to get a new chapeau.
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Very disappointing!
Alarm: Spoilers
Randolph Scott (Owen Merritt), Joan Leslie (Laurie Bidwell), Ellen Drew (Nan Melotte), Alexander Knox (Volition Isham), Richard Rober (Fay Dutcher), John Russell (Hugh Clagg), Alfondo Bedoya (Cultus Charlie), Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (Bourke Prine), Clem Bevans (Pay Lankershim), Cameron Mitchell (George Virk), Richard Crane (Duke Virk), Frank Sully (Lee Repp), Don Beddoe (Love Bidwell), George Lloyd (Tom Croker), James Kirkwood (Sheriff Medary), Frank Hagney (Ned Bale), Frank Ellis (townsman), Tennessee Ernie Ford (wrangler).
Managing director: ANDRE DE TOTH. Screenplay: Kenneth Gamet. Based on the novel by Ernest Haycox. Photographed in Technicolor by Charles Lawton, junior. Film editor: Charles Nelson. Art manager: George Brooks. Set decorator: Frank Tuttle. Technicolor color consultant: Francis Cugat. Music: George Duning. Songs: Harold Lewis (music) and Ralph Potato (lyrics). Music director: Morris Stoloff. Assistant to the producer: Herbert Stewart. Assistant managing director: Willard Reineck. Sound recording: Frank Goodwin. Associate producer: Randolph Scott. Producer: Harry Joe Dark-brown. Executive producers: Harry Joe Brown, Randolph Scott.
A Scott-Dark-brown Product, released through Columbia Pictures. Copyright 7 December 1951 by Producers Actors Corporation. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 2 December 1951. U.K. release: 28 June 1952. Australian release: xi September 1952. 87 minutes.
U.Chiliad. release championship: The OUTCAST.
SYNOPSIS: Owen Merritt, a pocket-size rancher, has to stand bated and encounter his ambitious girlfriend, Laurie Bidwell, marry a wealthy neighbor, Will Isham. Laurie's centre, however, is still with Owen. When Isham realizes this, he determines to destroy his rival.
Annotate: This promising theme is none also well handled by a group of starting time-class technicians who should have known improve than autumn dorsum on such former-fashioned devices as under-cranking the camera to speed upward the activeness. Although well-motivated, the script also fails to evangelize. The story develops into 1 long gun-fight, with brief interludes of talkative peace. The lovely Ellen Drew is wasted as Scott's also-ran love interest.
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Not Among Scott's Better Oaters
Average Scott western, at best. There're some darn fine Lone Pine vistas that aren't ordinarily seen, plus mountain scenes from southern Sierras. That'southward one thing about well-produced westerns— the scenery can sustain even when all else falters. Scott, of grade, is Scott, strong-jawed and humorless, carrying the flick fifty-fifty when the congested script doesn't. The plot'south pretty familiar, rich landowner taking over hero'southward state, along with a number of subplots. Then too, we've got not just i ingénue, but two. Leslie and Drew may be malt shop girls from the forty'due south simply they practise well enough here. I'm glad their hair color differs, otherwise they would be hard to tell apart.
I'chiliad with those who think Rober and Knox too bland to compete with Scott. Likewise, I agree that Russell would have made a much more bright villain; likewise bad he'southward wasted in what looks like a tacked-on role. And grab how easily Bedoya goes from clown to menace, fifty-fifty without "stinkin' badges". I actually did expect sharper results from ace manager DeToth. Given the correct material, he tin be quite affecting, as his western masterpiece Ramrod (1948) proves. Equally Andrew Sarris points out, few movie makers had a better feel for human treachery than the eye-patch Hungarian. My guess is he regarded the script every bit picayune more than a vehicle for Scott, though a few nice fringe touches exercise emerge, such every bit the straggler who gets in the way of the showdown.
All in all, the oater'due south too sprawling in both cast and story to achieve anything more than a scenic time passer.
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Rancho Skulduggery.
Man in the Saddle is directed past Andre De Toth and adapted to screenplay by Kenneth Gamet from the novel written by Ernest Haycox. It stars Randolph Scott, Joan Leslie, John Russell, Ellen Drew, Alexander Knox, Richard Rober and Guinn Williams. Music is by George Duning and cinematography by Charles Lawton Jr.
More known and rightly lauded for the serial of Western films he fabricated with Budd Boetticher, it often gets forgotten that Randolph Scott also had a long working human relationship with Andre De Toth. Man in the Saddle was the first of six Western films the ii men would make together, and it'due south a pretty impressive beginning.
Sometimes yous see words such as routine and standard attributed to a lot of Westerns from the 1950s, and Homo in the Saddle is one such film that's unfairly tarred with that brush. Not that the narrative drive is out of the ordinary, the plot essentially sees Randy as a peaceful farmer forced to become nasty when evil land baron flexes his muscles, but the zest of the action, the stunt work, the colour photography (Lone Pine as e'er a Mecca for Western fans) and Scott, marker this out as a thoroughly entertaining production.
Characterisations carry a bit more psychological smarts than your average "B" Western of the era. There's a four way tug-of-honey-war operating that is clearly going to spell misery, pain and death for somebody, a capitalist camber that bites hard with its egotistical bully boy overtones, while the obsessive behaviour of the principal players adds another dark cloud over this office of the W. Then there is the activity scenes, of which De Toth once once again shows himself to be a darn fine purveyor of such directional skills.
And so, we go an ace runaway blazing railroad vehicle sequence, a stampede, a quite brilliant gunfight in a darkened saloon, a mano-mano fist fight that literally brings the house downward – and then continues downwardly a steep ravine, and the closing shoot-out played out during a dust storm doesn't lack for adrenaline rushes. Scott is once again a bastion of Western coolness, more so when he throws off the bright attire he wears for the first half of film, to and so switch to black clothes that signifies he's going all bad ass on those who take acquired him grief.
Undervalued for sure, both as a Scott moving picture and equally a Western movie in general. Don't believe the routine and standard scare mongers, there's good craft here and it's a whole bunch of Oater fun. 7.five/10
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"There'southward no adult female in the world worth tearing yourself apart for."
Joan Leslie loves Randolph Scott simply marries wealthy Alexander Knox. The super jealous Knox isn't satisfied having Joan; he too wants Scott expressionless. So he hires gunmen to impale him. Scott survives the attack and is nursed back to health by Ellen Drew, who'due south in honey with him. Once better he sets out to settle things with Knox and his hired guns. Then-so western soaper has a nice cast but doesn't rising in a higher place boilerplate. Scott's fine, as is virtually of the cast. Hard to buy sweet Joan Leslie as hard and ambitious. This is 1 of those westerns where the good guy wears a brilliant yellowish neckerchief and the bad guy wears black gloves. Watchable but forgettable.
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An Okay Randolph Scott Western
This pic begins with a rancher by the proper name of "Owen Merritt" (Randolph Scott) attempting to adapt to the realization that his former girlfriend "Laurie Bidwell" (Joan Leslie) has recently agreed to marry an unscrupulous businessman named "Will Isham" (Alexander Knox) in the very virtually future. And although he knows Laurie is entering their spousal relationship strictly for financial reasons, he is besides enlightened that she still has feelings for Owen. Considering of that, Volition Isham becomes fifty-fifty more intent to accept everything else Owen has besides. What he doesn't realize, even so, is that Owen isn't the type who tin be bullied and he is more than capable of taking care of himself if he is pushed too far. At present, rather than reveal any more I will just say that this turned out to be an okay Western for the most part which benefited by solid performances by Randolph Scott, Joan Leslie and Ellen Drew (as "Nan Melotte"). On that note, I must acknowledge that the human relationship betwixt Owen and Laurie seemed rather odd at times but other than that this film managed to laissez passer the fourth dimension adequately well and I accept rated it appropriately. Average.
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The get-go Scott-Brown production
Human in the Saddle could be looked at as only some other Randolph Scott western, but for one noteworthy difference: it's the starting time picture produced past Scott-Brownish Productions. The rest is history, and thankfully, the gamble to leave mainstream Hollywood paid off: Randolph Scott westerns were some of the nigh popular movies of the decade!
The story of this one is fairly straightforward: Scottie McScottie Pants and Alexander Knox battle information technology out over a girl. You might think information technology's non a off-white fight, since Scottie is a western superstar, and Alex usually plays ministers. Withal, Alex has one thing Scottie doesn't, and information technology's important: money. The object of their affection, Joan Leslie, values money and all it can purchase, and then she leaves Scottie for Alex. Does she ever regret her decision? You'll have to watch this 90 minute brawl to find out. It'south not 90 minutes of pure fighting, of course; only the gigantic fight scene in the end is extremely impressive. Go along an middle out for Ellen Drew, Guinn "Big Male child" Williams, John Russell, and a young Cameron Mitchell in the supporting cast.
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"You're Hurt Again, Don't You Always Larn...?"
The title is a bit of a misnomer - despite the title vocal - since little of the activeness actually takes place on horseback. It'due south more a tale of intrigue in a western setting enhanced by a expert cast (although Alexander Knox is rather wasted as the senior villain; and soon returned to Britain).
Cameraman Charles Lawton puts his feel in film noir to skilful use past creating atmospheric lighting effects indoors and occasionally outdoors in rich Technicolor; while Andre De Toth's creation of compositions and activeness in depth utilising objects and actors within the frame amply demonstrates why - despite having simply the 1 eye - he was soon later entrusted with the 3D 'House of Wax'.
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About As Good As A 'B' Western Gets
I really enjoyed this. Most of Scott's films are pretty similar, however in this 1 its nice to see him commit to the fight much before on than he normally does.
Plenty of expert action and some well put together characters.
Its interesting to me that they fabricated the head bad guy British, information technology set a unlike tone, "I don't belong here and then I'll force my mode'. This miss fitting gave the character force and weakness.
The head henchman was a little defective, practiced verbally but non given any great opportunities. The other independent lead henchman was likewise wasted a little and could have added more.
Keen movie :)
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Splendid oater
Alarm: Spoilers
I have to say this is one of the ameliorate Randolph Scott pictures that I've seen from his career previous to the "Ranown" films. It has a much more compelling story than a lot of standard oaters from the 40s and 50s, with non one but two interesting female characters.
Scott plays Owen Merritt, a tough rancher who is provoked into a range state of war by the uber-competitive Volition Isham (Alexander Knox). Isham has married a former flame of Merritt's (Joan Leslie) and can't stand the thought that she might have balance feelings for Merritt. Likewise in the mix is the more than tomboyish Ellen Drew who plays a neighboring rancher who helps Merritt and falls in love with him.
There's a very interesting social subtext to the story with the two women -- the Leslie character is from a poor rural background but wants to escape her history, while the Drew character is more grounded and self-aware and doesn't desire to run from her own life. The Knox character is also interesting, psychotic and still noble. Richard Rober plays the more coldhearted gunslinger who he hires to do his dirty piece of work, and the dynamic between Rober and Knox is interesting too.
I quite enjoyed it and volition gladly picket it again. It's not hugely memorable, and the ending is a bit of a let-down, merely information technology has quite a few squeamish moments and a good western atmosphere with a more interesting story and characters than most. Andre de Toth's direction is very efficient and stately.
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The homo who had to own everything and everybody
Alert: Spoilers
Not the most original nor interesting Scott western I've seen. Similar various other reviewers have said, Alexander Knox only seems out of his tree as a cattle baron. I tin can see why he fabricated a practiced Woodrow Wilson, or perhaps a skilful bank president, for instance. John Russell would have fabricated a much more than believable Will Isham, but and then he couldn't take taken part in that marathon ball with Scott unless the script were rewritten. Similarly, Richard Rober made an unconvincing gunslinger in looks, although his target practice in the saloon was quite impressive. I'chiliad still not positive whether Rober was trying to kill Scott(probably) or Isham, or both, when he burst into the edifice every bit Scott and Isham were descending the stairs. Scott ducked back to condom, and Isham, in front end, shifted over to where Scott had been, when the revolver fired. That was 3 murders Rober was credited with, and he tried to make Scott number iv. Their shootout continued into the street, where a very stiff wind complicated things a bit. Approximate who eventually prevailed.
Returning to the brawl between Scott and Russell, not only did they destroy the breakaway furniture, they caused the breakaway cabin they were in to collapse! Very lucky they weren't buried nether the rubble! They continued their fight over the romantic attention of Ellen Drew down a very steep slope next to a stream, with Ellen tumbling down the slope backside with a burglarize. Russell finally managed to get on his horse for a get away before he got shot.
Some other bewilderment is when Scott was driving a chuck carriage, trying to outrun a cattle stampede, and the lantern in the dorsum fell off and started a burn. He continued to drive the railroad vehicle until it was about to fire him up, when he unhitched the wagon at full speed and apparently jumped off just before what was left was wrecked.
The catastrophe is rather unsatisfactory to me. What became of the Scott-Joan Leslie romantic relationship afterward Isham was murdered? Was she at present damaged goods, then that a Scott-Joan matrimony could non occur to combine their resources? Did Joan sell out to Scott or someone else? It appeared that Scott favored Ellen Drew at the end. She was a decade older than Joan, who was simply half Scott'southward historic period.
During sizable chunks of the film, I hardly understood what was going on, riding around hither and there, often in the dark.
Currently bachelor at YouTube
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One of Scott'southward Better 1950s Westerns!
Warning: Spoilers
"Human being in the Saddle" contains a honey triangle, a ruthless wealthy rancher, a vicious gunfighter and a fight worthy of star Randolph Scott's fight with John Wayne in "The Spoilers" (1942).
Will Isham (Alexander Knox) is about to marry local gold digger Laurie Bidwell (Joan Leslie) who had once been involved with local rancher Owen Merritt (Scott). It seems that Laurie has establish greener pastures with the rich and powerful Isham. At the hymeneals, Laurie banishes her drunken male parent (Don Beddoe) beingness aback of him.
Merritt along with other small ranchers Bourk Prine (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams) and the crumbling Lankershim (Clem Bevans) are targets for take over by Isham's Skull Ranch. The old human being gives in and sells out making The Skull Ranch and Merritt's spread neighbors. Some other neighboring small-scale rancher Nan Melotte (Ellen Drew) has her eye on Merritt merely is loved from afar by the mysterious Hugh Clagg (John Russell). Isham has hires gunman Dutcher (Richard Rober) to exercise his dingy work.
Dutcher and his men stampede the cattle of the small ranchers killing immature Juke Vird, a Merritt manus, in the process. Juke's brother George (Cameron Mitchell) vows revenge merely is also killed when he hoes later Dutcher. Dutcher attacks Merritt's ranch wounding him. Merritt is taken to a mountain hide out by Nan for protection.
Nan in advertently stands up Clagg for a date and he becomes furious. He tracks them to the isolated cabin and threatens to kill both Nan and Merritt. A fierce battle between the men breaks out with Merritt prevailing. Clegg returns to the Isham ranch but is brutally gunned down by Isham when he believes that Clagg was pursuing his wife.
The Skull Ranch riders head for town for a showdown with Owen Merritt and his followers. A gunfight ensues and Merritt ultimately gets Isham to agree to pull up stakes and motility on just as Dutcher arrives and......................................................
Yep, that was Tennessee Ernie Ford (sans mustache) singing the title song and appearing at a campfire scene doing too. The fight scene betwixt Scott and Russell (and their stunt doubles) was particularly well done. IThey bring the whole cabin down upon themselves also equally tumbling down a steep hill in battle. Scott is as somber and serious equally always. Even though he was into his 50s, he still got to romance to young lovelies much younger than himself. Gunin Williams doesn't play the comical side boot this time only a more serious role. John Russell and Cameron Mitchell appear in early roles and the ever popular Alfonso Bedoya appears equally the camp melt.
And yes, Randolph Scott wears his traditional leather jacket worn in many of his westerns, in this one likewise.
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Human in the Saddle
Rancher Knox is marrying Scott'southward girl and is also eager to take over all the land around him, including Scott'southward ranch - trouble follows.
Standard, possibly slightly improve than expected western fare with the usual stuff taking identify when there's a battle for state. One very good, tough fight scene though and Scott has, every bit usual, a potent screen presence.
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Compelling western
The Ranown westerns always get a better reputation, and every bit much I like Randolph Scott'southward work with Budd Boetticher, I prefer the ones he did earlier, like this engaging western that unravels the characters - has a tint of psychology especially concerning Alexander Knox's character - nicely before getting to the good stuff. Energetic shootouts, a lengthy fistfight with a cabin falling apart, and a shootout finale in a grit-blown street. Dialogue is snappy as is the pace. Andre de Toth is an underrated managing director.
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Randolph Scott takes on Skull Ranch and its possessor, the jealous megalomaniac Will Isham
Warning: Spoilers
There's a pocket-size lake that straddles the boundary separating Volition Isham's Skull Ranch and Pay Lankershim's land. Isham (Alexander Knox), a powerful, determined and jealous megalomaniac, offers $50,000 cash if Pay sells his ranch to him this night, Isham's nuptials night. It's worth maybe $9,000. There'due south enough water for both our herds, Pay says. "Yous don't become the thought," Isham says with a tumbler of brandy in his hand. "I'd only ain half a lake. I don't own half of anything, Lankershim. I own it all, lock, stock and barrel. That goes for anything. Whatever I have is mine and mine alone. I'll share with no one."
Now Skull'southward purlieus is upward against Owen Merritt's land...and information technology will only be a matter of time earlier Isham goes after Owen (Randolph Scott). He'due south fifty-fifty brought in a hired gun to speed things along. And the woman Isham just married? Turns out Laurie Bidwell (Joan Leslie) is the woman Owen loves. She made her choice, however, considering she wanted position and money, and that meant Isham, not Owen. After Owen nearly gets killed in a stampede engineered by Isham's men, Laurie is starting time to accept doubts almost her option. She'd improve call back what Isham told Pay: "Whatever I have is mine alone. I'll share with no i."
When Owen's men start getting killed, he decides to practice some killing of his own. It'southward non long earlier it's just Owen Merritt against the power of Skull, and that means Will Isham and his hired guns. Thank goodness Owen has a few loyal ranch hands and one friend, spunky, feisty Nan Melotte, the blonde young owner of a pocket-size ranch next to Owen'due south. We know things are going to get much rougher in the next hour.
Human being in the Saddle may exist a B western, only information technology's a Randolph Scott B western. With me, that unremarkably means a stiff story even with clichés, most often a good villain or two, enough activeness to quickly pass the fourth dimension and, of course, Scott. He was a big guy who could come across as grim, judgmental and expressionless serious. He also had perfected the persona of an honorable human of action. He had the screen presence to carry even B westerns. He had no trouble dominating his films, fifty-fifty when playing against an alpha male similar Lee Marvin. I've e'er found a good deal of pleasure watching a Randolph Scott western.
Joan Leslie has a much more complicated character to play than nigh B moving-picture show westerns call for. Her Laurie Isham comes from a hardscrabble past. She loves, in her way, Owen. She marries Isham because she yearns for position and security. She winds up trying to exist loyal to both. Leslie manages to carry it off so well we sort of admire Laurie and how she'southward trying to handle the prepare she's put herself in. To run across Joan Leslie at her freshest and friendliest, observe a copy of The Sky's the Limit. At barely 18 she stars opposite Fred Astaire and shares a fast, funny vocal and trip the light fantastic toe routine with him, "A Lot in Common with You." Leslie just near keeps up with Astaire and he makes it seem easy for her. When she can manage only 2 air-borne turns (which she does with grace and precision), he hits three simply places himself just a footling in forepart of her to disguise the divergence.
For those fond of pound-'em-into-the-ground fistfights, Man in the Saddle features a lulu. Scott and John Russell, an equally big guy who plays a human with a savage atmosphere who has a hankerin' for Nan, start walloping each other in a mountain shack, and so skid-slide down a rocky, snow covered mountainside going subsequently each other with fists, rocks and tree limbs. The stunt doubles earned their money with this 1.
Human being in the Saddle is no classic, just it turns out to be one of the better westerns Scott made during this period.
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Good Randy Scott western but should have been much better
Though "Human in the Saddle" has some constructive moments and a few good action scenes, information technology is below average for Randy Scott who usually did meliorate. The high indicate of the action comes nigh the beginning of the movie when the cattle are stampeded with Randy trying to outrun the herd in a covered wagon that is ablaze. The shoot out at the end is much too abbreviated only lasting a few minutes. Randy doesn't even get to duke it out with the hired gunslinger Fay Dutcher (Richard Rober). What kind of name is Fay for a gunfighter? Owen Merritt (Scott) shoots Dutcher as he rolls for his gun in the street. The talented actor John Russell has a fairly nondescript role. He would have been much better cast as gunman Dutcher.
The story of a love triangle with 2 women Joan Leslie and Ellen Drew later one man (Scott)is at times overplayed. Exactly what Owen's relationship was with Laurie Bidwell (Leslie) before she married Volition Isham (Alexander Knox) for money and ability is never revealed. Apparently the two had one hell of a relationship the way it even so tugs at their heartstrings and is the continued buzz of the town. The hired gun is not just after more ranch land for his dominate but afterward Owen as well.
Alexander Knox who played President Woodrow Wilson magnificently in "Wilson" several years earlier was thus typecast and unable to detect himself in other parts. When he played the dominate rancher in "Man in the Saddle" he was however trying to detect his way afterwards Wilson. Alfonso Bedoya and veteran cowboy actor Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams do well in the comedy department. Bedoya is a adept foil for Big Boy. He continually looks for a new lid. Big Boy tells him he doesn't need a new hat for his head, he needs a new head for a chapeau. Even Randy Scott gets in on the humor this fourth dimension and comes across with some funny lines. When Bedoya tells Scott that the copse are talking to him. Scott replies, "You'd better lay off that vanilla extract." When he is hold upwards with Nan Melotte (Ellen Drew)recuperating from a gunshot wound he feels the stubble on his confront and comments, "It's like a coyote running through castor." The usually serious Scott plays a lighter role this go around and it is a plus for this otherwise dark and moody film. Look for Cameron Mitchell of idiot box's "The High Chaparral" in a small role as one of the two brothers murdered by Will Isham's gang.
In the days before Tex Ritter gave immortality to the theme from "High Noon," showing Hollywood how cowboy music should be presented to the public, multi-talented Tennessee Ernie Ford sang the theme to "Man in the Saddle" with much the same feeling of authenticity. He also gets to sing another ballad on camera equally 1 of the wranglers. He's difficult to recognize at offset considering of his youth and no mustache. Tennessee Ernie was singing hillbilly boogie that sounded very much like Rockabilly when Elvis was still driving a truck in Memphis. He ended up concentrating mainly on goggle box, retiring early from show business, except to cut a gospel album every now then. "Human being in the Saddle" is one of his few screen appearances.
Though non up to par for a Randolph Scott western, still worth seeing for fans of 50'south westerns.
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Better than I was led to believe
Some of the reviews here nearly dissuaded me from watching this film, which doesn't seem to take been screened much on British Idiot box (certainly I was unaware of it), whereas the Boetticcher and other later Scott Westerns are shown regularly.
"MITS" compared very well indeed with these, and the plot was different to those of "stranger riding into boondocks and trouble"). It'southward been remarked that Scott was a bit former for the two female person leads, but that was the instance in many of his later Westerns (and Gary Cooper'southward too). The colour photography likewise added to my enjoyment of the picture. It was good to see Guinn Williams in a office that wasn't his "comic sidekick" one, and also John Russell as a jealous admirer. Joan Leslie'south romantic vacillations were a bit unconvincing, as were the final scenes.
Unlike at to the lowest degree one previous reviewer, I didn't observe the differing appearances of Scott and his fight stand up-in, and I dubiety that movie house viewers in the early on 1950s did either.
(I've just checked the appointment of release, and was a little surprised, as the film had the "expect" of ane made late in the decade or even the early 1960s.)
I'one thousand glad that I watched it.
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No tension to drive the plot
This formulaic film (hero's girlfriend marries the villain) just didn't motility forth fast enough given some of the circumstances of the story. Scott seems too old in this one, and besides many times his character turns away from decisive activeness, deflating the scenes. He responds to the deaths of some of his hands weakly; he escapes from Knox'southward gang by hiding in a full rain barrel; his escape to the high country and pursuit by John Russell seem superfluous, every bit does much of the film. The plot could accept been tightened.
High points of the motion picture: seeing "Tennessee" Ernie Ford without a mustache singing "Human being in the Saddle"; Alfonso Bedoya'southward besides brief scenes as a melt; the color photography of the loftier country, and the fight scene there with John Russell.
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Fair to middlin' western love triangle
Possibly I was expecting more from this early 1950s Randolph Scott western, simply it disappointed me. Alexander Knox is out of place as a rich rancher with an English accent. Richard Rober is badly miscast equally a dangerous gunman (he'southward too butterball, not sinister looking or sounding at all, & is introduced while wearing a V buttoning shirt with large matching blue buttons, a bit too coordinated for a gunslinger who'due south not supposed to be especially into his looks). Scott is supposed to be a "human of unbreakable principles," but he's awfully shut to his ex-girlfriend at the betoken she'south engaged to someone else, & awfully close to her after she's married to another guy, & Scott can't seem to make up his mind about which woman he wants to exist with anyway. I've seen much more unbreakable principles elsewhere! Scott is good in his role, just he's been much improve in some of his other films (for example, "The Walking Hills," which was fabricated not long before this motion-picture show). Clem Bevans is OK every bit an old guy (what else is new?), but he's almost not-verbal & and then disappears shortly after the motion-picture show begins. "Man in the Saddle" just doesn't striking the marker. I rate information technology 6/10.
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Don't miss this 1
Thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. Peachy cast, in color, great western scenery. Bad guys are bad, the good guys are good. Hats off to just the correct amount of comic relief (inside joke - spotter the movie to become it). Sit back and escape today's complicated life and see this on a lazy Saturday afternoon.
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mighty fine de toth
Warning: Spoilers
It seems that all the comments here are somewhat ordinary, and miss some of the fantastically extraordinary touches of de Toth. True the western drags in places, simply in that location are moments that only a managing director of the quality of de Toth tin create. His sense of humour was always very sly, here no exception. For some other instance look at the way he handles Gary Cooper in Springfield Rifle. But dorsum to the case in indicate. Nearly the start Scott and Williams are about to exit and this 75 year former lady comes through the door carrying a bundle and says, alibi me gentlemen. Look at it carefully and yous will see it is a fantastic grace note, and very funny. And so expect at the manner Scott is rolling a cigarette when Isham pulls up, talks over his shoulder etc. Also why does Clagg interruption a stick to get Ellen Drews attention coming up the loma? Its nearly perverse and never explained. Then the stop in as good a dust tempest every bit was ever filmed short of the 1 in Treasure of Sierra Madre.
And saving the best for last, the fight scene betwixt Scott and Clagg, is simply stupendous. Over apace, very real, tense, the long coil downwards the hill, etc. It may be the best single fight ever on the screen.
These solitary raise de Toth into a level reached by very few other directors of westerns. His subtlety is very slap-up: in fact his sense of sense of humour is still, for me, the very best. Nobody better.
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Out of the rut but below average Scott western
398 2 June 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I saw Man In the Saddle decades agone and rewatched it recently. It is at in one case memorable and nonetheless well beneath boilerplate. Memorable considering instead of the usual revenge plot or greed-driven villainy, the two main villains are men obsessed with women who are indifferent to them and who finally explode into shocking violence which lingers after everything else about the motion picture is forgotten. Well below average considering of an underdeveloped script, flaccid direction, miscasting, and indifferent performances.
The miscasting begins with the star. Randolph Scott was 53 when this movie was fabricated and while the leathery old canis familiaris might still exist able to turn a few bonnets, he does seem a bit long in the tooth to discover himself beingness chased past two women immature enough to be his daughters. The implications of the plot may have bothered Scott. I saw Man In the Saddle dorsum to back with Riding Shotgun and his torpid performance here is a night and twenty-four hour period contrast with his forceful attempt in the more traditional Shotgun. The 2 leading ladies, Ellen Drew and Joan Leslie, were third-stringers from the forties whose careers faded with their youth. Drew gets by in an undemanding part which requires little more than looking longingly in the direction of Scott now and and then, but Leslie is woefully out of her depth. Laurie Bidwell Isham is an icy, calculating woman who shucks Scott, the honey of her life, to enter into a business marriage with the wealthy Will Isham, well played by Alexander Knox. She coldly rebuffs the repressed Isham's fumbling intimations of amore, leaving no doubt that one clause in their matrimony contract was split up bedrooms. She also tosses her begetter out of her wedding reception and her life every bit he reminds her all too forcefully that she came from the incorrect side of the pasture. The echoes of the wedding bells have barely faded before she is secretly riding under the stars dorsum to Scott. This function required an extra of the depth of a Patricia Neal. Information technology got Leslie rehashing her chirpy ingenue performances of the war years.
Alexander Knox as Will Isham and John Russell as Hugh Clagg, the two spurned lovers, are the moving picture'south only real avails. Isham goes sour, but he has a better side and ane gets the impression an affectionate Laurie might have brought it out. When Laurie offers to become abroad with him at the climax, he abandons all plans for revenge or power and briskly agrees, simply to be almost immediately shot down by his own hired gun. Russell is intense in the redundant part of a man hopelessly obsessed with Drew. I think he is miscast. He is 20 years younger than Scott, is strikingly handsome, and has an engaging grin. He should have switched roles with Richard Rober, pallid as a foppish gunslinger. Russell would accept made a much more menacing killer. Rober's ordinary looks and banal personality might take convinced as the rejected suitor.
The pic but really comes alive when Isham or Clagg boil over into outbursts of violence. The rest is slow soap-opera complications and heavy-handed comedy relief, punctuated past a few ordinary activeness scenes. The concluding shootout between Scott and Rober is forgettable. Andre De Toth proves himself a limited director. The script meanders along various tangents, but leaves the pivotal character of Isham somewhat underdeveloped and the maybe even more pivotal character of Laurie totally undeveloped. She marries a man she doesn't love for his money and when he is killed at least partially because of her behavior, she ends up with the money. Is that all? A better script would have fleshed out this role and possibly fished for some irony in the catastrophe.
All in all, in that location might have been a good movie underneath all the dross struggling to go out, only it never made it. As is, seeing and hearing a immature Ernie Ford sing is a nostalgic treat. Otherwise, at all-time a fourth dimension filler for a rainy solar day.
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Routine oater
By Randolph Scott standards of the 1950s, this is a disappointing and heavy-handed star western. Two or three of the characters could exist dispensed with, while two or three other characters could be given more prominence. (The humor needs to exist completely rewritten.) De Toth handles the action well - as always - simply his grasp of the overall narrative is weak.
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Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043781/reviews
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