Ride Lonesome

Ride Lonesome (1959)

Runtime: 73 minutes

Directed by: Budd Boetticher

Starring: Randolph Scott, Karen Steele, Pernell Roberts, James Best, James Coburn, Lee Van Cleef

From: Columbia

Yep, I saw another collaboration between Boetticher and Scott; spoiler warning, I also enjoyed this a lot. Read all about it below: 

Late last afternoon Turner Classic Movies showed this Budd Boetticher/Randolph Scott Western and as I just saw the first collaboration between the pair the previous night, I figured I'd check out the second movie in the Ranown Cycle, which is the seven films they did together and it was Boetticher's production company.

The plot sounds simple enough: Scott is the greatly named Ben Brigade, a bounty hunter who captures James Best (he actually giggles at times like the Rosco P. Coltrane character he played years later), a real heel who loves shooting people in the back. He not only has to deal with Best's brother Lee Van Cleef and others looking to free him, he meets up gunmen Pernell Roberts and James Coburn (his first film) and Barbara Steele is a woman stranded alone. They all head to Santa Cruz to try and collect the bounty, encountering such things as “Injuns'” (that was the way they were portrayed) along the way. As I figured, Randolph plays a grim and gruff character, yet he still has his own code of honor he abides by.

I figured I'd enjoy this film considering all the talented faces in the main cast and I was correct. All did a nice job. I was not familiar with Barbara Steele but she did a nice job too as a tough lady. It was nice seeing these characters interact with each other, and there's mystery over the motives are of Roberts and Coburn; they certainly would want that bounty also. Then again, Brigade has secrets himself. All this takes place in the very scenic California desert.

In a lean and mean 73 minutes, things are stripped down where we get a gripping tale of revenge with little fat or extraneous things getting in the way; as others have said, an economical film this is.