Jeff Arnold’s West

The blog of a Western fan, for other Western fans

Ride the Man Down (Republic, 1952)

 

Luke Short rides again

 

Ride the Man Down is a classic early-50s oater from Republic which I like for a number of reasons.

 

First of all, it’s a filming of a story by Luke Short (pictured left). Now, regular readers of this blog, both of them, will know what a fan I am of Luke Short’s Western tales. They were well written, authentic, taut and ideally suited to filming. Eight of his stories were in fact made into movies and when you consider the quality of them you understand why Hollywood liked Short: Albuquerque (a filming of Dead Freight for Piute), Blood on the Moon, Ramrod, Coroner Creek, Station West, Ambush, Vengeance Valley  and, yes, Ride the Man Down. It’s an impressive list and we have here some absolutely first-class Westerns. Joseph Kane, veteran director and producer at Republic, was also a Short fan, and he helmed this ’52 interpretation.

 

Then there’s the cast. We have real stalwarts here. Rod Cameron is the hero, tall, brawny, gritty Will Ballard, doing what a man’s gotta do. He’s foreman of the Hatchet Ranch, somewhere in New Mexico (though the movie was shot in very nice Kanab, UT locations), whose owner perishes in the great blizzard of ’92, and the spread is now in trouble, with free-grazers and rawhiders coming in right, left and center.

 

 

Rod is gritty and tough

 

Chief among the greedy land-grabbers is nasty Bide Marriner, played by top-billed Brian Donlevy, whom we first see wearing a suit and winning at poker in a saloon – the perfect ambience for Donlevy. He was not suited to Westerns where he wears range duds and a six-gun and rides a lot; he was best as a heavy in a saloon, preferably with a derringer. That is why he was good in Barbary Coast and Destry Rides Again Union Pacific too, but hopeless as Trampas in the 1946 remake of The Virginian or as Grat in When the Daltons Rode. Actually, I think he was the worst ever Trampas, of all the versions.

 

 

Better in other genres

 

Also ranged against Ballard is Forrest Tucker, as Sam Danfelser. Sam is engaged to the new owner of the Hatchet, Celia (Ella Raines) and he wants to run Hatchet as his own. But he doesn’t get on at all well with foreman Ballard, and vice versa, may it be said. We sense a last-reel showdown. Tucker was reliably excellent in Westerns, of which he did a great number, big screen and small. Whenever you see his name in the credits, you think, Oh good.

 

 

Forrest and Rod slug it out

 

Ms Raines only did four Westerns. She’s good, though, as the feisty rancher rolling her own cigareets and ready to fight back when molested (which she is, a couple of times).

 

 

Lerve. But will it last? Nope.

 

Quite an interesting feature of the story is that both men, Will and Sam, are clearly engaged to the wrong woman. Celia has a gradually worsening opinion of her fiancé Sam and increasingly thinks that Will is her kinda man, while Will is engaged to Lottie, the storekeeper’s daughter (Barbara Britton, who was Molly in the Donlevy’s Virginian and appeared twice with Randolph Scott), who is too prim and safety-conscious for him and can’t back him when the going gets tough there at Hatchet. We know that by the end of the movie Will and Celia will be in each other’s arms, Lottie will be lonely and Sam probably dead.

 

And we won’t be wrong. Sorry about the spoiler. But you can see it coming a mile off.

 

Who else? Well, up at Hatchet one of the hands is Chill Wills, doing his crusty act, and the cook is Chris-Pin Martin. I told you it was a good line-up. They are joined by two young brothers who at first arrive as interlopers, after some of that open range, but join forces with Hatchet and become invaluable, Jim and Mel Young (Roydon Clark and Al Courdebec, both rather good).

 

 

Joe Kane, Short reader

 

In the nearby small town of Ten Mile we have another heavy, Red Courteen (Jim Davis). In fact, if the truth be known there are too many of these characters for a 90-minute movie. If you know the story it’s OK but if you don’t, you risk being a bit confused on first viewing. Screenplay writer Mary McCall (this and Slim Carter were her only Westerns) should probably have streamlined the novel a bit more. She did say, though: “From the outset this was as happy a spell of work as occurs but rarely in a screenwriter’s life. Kane is an admirer of Luke Short’s work. I loved the novel. In transferring the story to the visual medium we didn’t have any problems.” And given that she wanted to respect the integrity of the novel, I think she did a good job.

 

 

Luke the Great

 

Will wrecks Red’s saloon when Red’s men steal his horse and Red wants his revenge. Good to see Jim Davis again, being brutish, even if his wig is a bit silly.

 

Nearby ranchers who want some of the Hatchet land include Paul Fix and Douglas Kennedy, the former more scurrilous than the latter. Then in town we have Lottie’s dad Mr Priest (Taylor Holmes, rather entertaining and rascally) and a very good performance from J Carrol Naish as the sheriff in Donlevy’s pay and under his thrall who gradually stands up for himself and does the decent thing in the end.

 

 

Der Tiger von Utah indeed

 

There are nice orchestral variations by Ned Freeman on Shenandoah throughout. The picture is in Republic’s Trucolor, which emphasizes the blues and is rather pleasant, though Kane said he would have preferred it in black & white, and I do get that. Jack Marta was the DP.

 

Brian Garfield, ever astute, said, “Movies like this manage to transcend the formula without departing from it.”

 

It’s not arty, it’s not profound, but it’s a cracking good Western.

 

 

Not bad likenesses, I guess, especially of Carrol
 

 

 

 

5 Responses

  1. Ride The Man Down is a favorite of imne, but that is Douglas Kennedy, not George and Barbara Britton made thre films with Randolph Scott but was only his 'squeeze' in Captain Kidd, the first. Her name is up there in Albuquerque and Gunfighters, but she is not his leading lady in either. Catharine Craig in the first and Dorothy Hart the second. Now, if you simply prefer Britton, different story. I do as well.

    1. You're quite right. 'Squeeze' is not the word (not very pc either). let us say Ms Britton appeared in Albuquerque ande Gunfighters.
      And yes, I always do mix up the Kennedys' names. I'll change that. Thanks!
      Jeff

  2. What a great Christmas gift from you to us, Jeff. Fine review.

    Personally, "RIDE THE MAN DOWN" is in my list of 10 favourite westerns. It ticks all the boxes for me. We are thrown into an ongoing situation at the outset of the film, which is in some ways an unusual way to begin but that seems to be something the great Luke Short favoured, and it is just one aspect of the film I love.
    The pace of the film is terrific, in Joe Kane's hands it was likely to be so, and then there is the fine cast. I increasingly appreciate Rod Cameron, particularly as a western lead, he seems natural and easy in the genre and can handle the action more than competently. Put him together with Forrest Tucker and the chemistry is there.

    All we need now is a BluRay restoration that shows this fine western at its best. You're right – it's not arty and thank God for that!

    1. Wow, top ten, eh? I'm impressed.
      I do agree, though, that it's just the kind of Western we want to see.
      Jeff

  3. Jeff, good write-up of a very good movie adaption of the masterful Western writer Luke Short's(Frederick D. Glidden) RIDE THE MAN DOWN 1942 novel. As you can tell, it is one of Jerry's favorite Westerns. Also, it is a favorite of mine. The cast is top notch and, needless to say, they just don't make them like RIDE THE MAN DOWN(1952) anymore.

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