Ride Lonesome (1959)

Directed and produced by Budd Boetticher

Bounty hunter Ben Brigade (Randolph Scott) has captured fugitive murderer Billy John (James Best), intending to take him to justice in the town of Santa Cruz. But between capture and destination, there are any number of obstacles, including a pair of rivals (Pernell Roberts, James Coburn), hostile Indians, and the killer’s brother (Lee Van Cleef). On top of that, Brigade has a plan that he’s keeping to himself, which creates its own hazards.

Ride Lonesome is one of the seven films that Scott made with director Boetticher and executive-producer Harry Joe Brown, a number, such as this one, written by Burt Kennedy. They are well-directed and acted films; the stories are not always strong, but the scripts create interesting characters in exciting situations.

That is a good description of Ride Lonesome. The story could have used some attention. The initial problems that Brigade encounters arise from an Indian raid, which doesn’t really have a good reason. Even the characters discuss the illogic of the Apaches attacking whites at that time and place. It would appear that the raid is used principally to set up the first gun-battle without having recourse to the criminals who are following Brigade: the purpose of keeping the two parties separate until the climax becomes clear later. Even so, the writer could have devised another way, since the Indian menace is entirely forgotten after the first third of the film.

The best part of the script comes, as it does in most of the Scott/Boetticher movies, in the characters. Brigade’s interaction with Boone (Roberts) is one of respect, even admiration, but with a none-too-subtle tension, since Boone needs to bring in Billy John himself to win amnesty for some unspecified crimes he and his pal Whit (Coburn) committed. Those two characters provide interest themselves: it’s never revealed what they have done, but since they seem decent men, it’s hard to think it was as bad as Billy John’s crime.

The acting is good, though nothing outstanding. By this time, Scott could have portrayed the rugged, quiet westerner in his sleep, but he nonetheless gives Brigade life, and makes the viewer wonder what is going on behind the lined face. He provides his characters with more introspection than John Wayne or Gary Cooper ever did, making the jaded loner a particular specialty of his.

The supporting players do a good job. Roberts and Coburn make their semi-bad guys likeable enough that the viewer is sympathetic to their goals. Indeed, the viewer may want Brigade to go easier on those two than he is; another reason to keep with the movie to see how it unfolds. Van Cleef, having worked his way up from villain’s henchman in 1952’s High Noon, to the leadership of a gang, has a surprisingly effective half-minute at the climax, when his face and words perfectly imply the remorse that a tough bad-guy isn’t allowed to express.

With good action, well-crafted characters and compelling tension, Ride Lonesome’s less impressive qualities may be disregarded. It’s an enjoyable journey on the well-trod trail of the western movie.