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Memorable, crazy movie

As Good As It Gets

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

"Ride Lonesome" was the sixth of seven Randolph Scott/Budd Boetticher "B" plus low budget little westerns. Again, Scott plays a loner with a past and an axe to grind.Scott is Ben Brigade a bounty hunter who has captured murderer Billy John (James Best) and plans to bring him to Santa Cruz to be hanged. The two proceed along until they come to a seemingly abandoned stagecoach swing station. Ah, but not so. Emerging from the shadows are Sam Boone (Pernell Roberts) and his pal Whit (James Coburn). Also on hand is the wife of the station master who is away, Carrie Lane (Karen Steele). Boone and Whit's reasons for being there are unknown at this point.It turns out that the local Apache chief has an eye for Mrs. Lane and offers a horse in trade for her. Unfortunately, the horse turns out to have belonged to her missing husband. The Indians leave but Brigade knows that they will return in greater numbers and decides that he must move on. Boone and Whit offer to accompany him and Billy John along with the now widowed Mrs. Lane. Before they leave, Boone tells Brigade that he plans to take the prisoner away from him. You see an amnesty has been offered to whomever brings Billy John in and Boone has a past and wants to be exonerated.The group of five leaves but not before Billy John informs them that his brother Frank (Lee Van Cleef) in in pursuit. They hole up in a run down building when the Indians attack. The Indians are repelled and the group proceeds on their way crossing desert like country in the open. This causes Boone to believe that Brigade is purposely leaving a trail for Frank to follow and that Frank is the man that Brigade really wants. It turns out that Brigade and Frank have a past and that Brigade wants to settle the score.When they arrive at a clearing dominated by an old rotten former hanging tree they await Frank's arrival. Brigade also has to consider Boone's threat to kill him if necessary. Frank arrives and........................................................Director Boetticher and writer Burt Kennedy must have run out of ideas. They re-use several scenes from earlier films in the series. Sam Boone speaks the line, "There are some things a man just can't ride around", which was spoken by Scott in "The Tall T" (1957). Also, the emergence of Boone and Whit from within the shadows of the station, was used in the same film with Richard Boone and his cronies likewise stepping out of the shadows. The scene where Boone offers Whit a partnership in his small ranch should he obtain his freedom, is similar to the one in "Buchanan Rides Alone" (1958) where Scott offers a similar partnership arrangement to L.Q. Jones.Randolph Scott plays yet another grim faced loner with a past and nary a smile. Pernell Roberts was about to embark on the TV series "Bonanza" the same year as this film. For James Coburn, this was his first film and led to his being cast in a major role in "The Magnificent Seven" (1960). James Best had been under contract at Universal and made many westerns. He would go on to play Sheriff Roscoe on the long running "Dukes of Hazard" TV series.

Randolph Scott is at his brawny best in Budd Boetticher's low-budget western "Ride Lonesome," and Boetticher has surrounded him with a formidable supporting cast, featuring Pernell Roberts, Lee Van Cleef, James Coburn, and James Best. Most of these collaborations between Scott and Boetticher were often lensed against the striking grandeur of the Alabama Hills in Southern California, mountain scenery as beautiful as the sculpturesque Spanish cordilleras in those violent Spaghetti westerns. "Ride Lonesome" has lost none of its intensity over the years, with taunt suspense, charismatic characters, and what Howard Hawks would say "live and death stakes." Scott plays robust bounty hunter, Ben Brigade, who has been on the trail of his quarry for quite some time. When he finally catches up with lowdown, no account, back-shooting Billy (James Best of "Comanche Territory"), he plans to take him back to Santa Cruz where Billy will likely face a noose. Billy shot a man in the back and killed him, and the authorities want him. However, this compelling little western has more going on it as it unfolds.During their back to Santa Cruz, Ben and Billy meet smooth-taking Sam Boone (Pernell Roberts, later of NBC-TV's "Bonanza") and Whit (James Coburn in his cinematic debut) who are at Wells Junction, a stagecoach swing station. Boetticher and scenarist Burt Kennedy heighten the drama with the addition of a damsel-in-distress, Mrs. Carrie Lane (Karen Steele of "Cyborg 2087"), the wife of the swing station manager. Mrs. Lane's husband had gone out to recover some livestock, and Sam and Whit have settled in for the night. Mrs. Lane wants nothing to do with any of them, including Ben and Billy, until the westbound stage arrives. The first of many surprises occurs as the stage boils down the trail out of control and careens into the corral fence. The driver has been skewered to the seat atop the coach by an Indian war lance, with bright red blood splattered across his chest. Boetticher raises the stakes in this tense shoot'em up while Sam and Whit ponder the possibilities of killing Brigade to get the bounty on Billy. Actually, they aren't entirely interested in the bounty and the prospect of amnesty that has been offered for anybody who brings in Billy. Nevertheless, Brigade refuses to part with his captive outlaw, and this reluctance on Brigade's part fuels the melodrama that lurks in the background."3:10" to Yuma" lenser Charles Lawton's widescreen, Eastman color cinematography is vivid, and the variety of camera angles are good. The scenery is savage looking and the stakes are just as savage. Burt Kennedy got his start with low-budget oaters like "Ride Lonesome" and he has written some pointed, laconic, first-rate dialogue. Boetticher, who knew his way around horse operas, never goes wrong in this sagebrusher. You can see an early example of Kennedy's repetitious uses of narrative ideas. The splendid opening scene sees Billy trying to bluff his way out of a confrontation with Brigade. He warns Brigade and several rifles are aimed at him and cannot miss. Brigade stands up to Billy's bluff and warns him that before they can kill him, he will kill Billy. Kennedy used that idea in his own movie, "Return of the Seven" (1966), when Chris (Yul Brynner), bluffs a Mexican vaquero, Lopez (Rodolfo Acosta) into turning a friend loose, else five Winchesters would obliterate his head. You can watch "Ride Lonesome" often and never tire of it.

Seasoned bounty hunter Randolph Scott (as Ben Brigade) catches killer James Best (as Billy John) in the old west – but it's a trap. Outlaws in the hills have their weapons aimed at Mr. Scott. Though surrounded, Scott smoothly talks his way out of the situation. On their way to Santa Cruz, the premeditating men pick up perceptive Pernell Roberts (as Sam Boone) and his sidekick James Coburn (as Wid). This was the first feature film role for Mr. Coburn, then primarily a TV actor. While Scott and Mr. Roberts vie for biggest gun in the group, director Budd Boetticher drops a sex bomb into the picture with pointed blonde Karen Steele (as Carrie). The "big guns" contest ends right there. Now, the contest becomes who is the sneakiest...The smart money is on Scott..."Ride Lonesome" is another fine western from director Boetticher and his frequent collaborators, producer Harry Joe Brown and writer Burt Kennedy. For this one, cameraman Charles Lawton Jr. contributes outstanding color photography. A "wide screen" without thousands of extras made several otherwise accomplished directors look momentarily lost in the 1950s, but Boetticher does extraordinarily well, here. For landscape and imagery, this is probably the best of his Randolph Scott pictures. A close second (a least) is "Comanche Station" (1960). Also notable is the fine soundtrack by Heinz Roemheld, even if it does occasionally sound distractingly like somebody is going to start singing "All 'er Nothing'" (from "Oklahoma!").********* Ride Lonesome (2/15/59) Budd Boetticher ~ Randolph Scott, Pernell Roberts, James Best, James Coburn

The 1959 film "Ride Lonesome" is one more in the late career collaboration of Randolph Scott with director Budd Boetticher. Scott plays a bounty hunter who's dead-set on bringing young James Best to justice (i.e. hanging) and he doesn't seem too concerned when Pernell Roberts shows up and starts getting in his way. Scott's real enemy is Best's older brother (Lee Van Cleef) and the plot revolves around a "hanging tree" in the middle of nowhere. Van Cleef "hanged" Scott's wife and revenge is the motive of the day. "Ride Lonesome" is now chiefly remembered for bringing young and soon-to-be-famous actors into public view. Roberts was immediately cast in "Bonanza" and James Coburn (his part is mostly a minor one here) was next seen starring in "The Magnificent Seven." Van Cleef got his real break much later when Sergio Leone cast him in his Italian westerns with Clint Eastwood. Scott made one more picture with Boetticher and then concluded his career with the Sam Peckinpah movie "Ride the High Country." Needless to say, old Sam's movie is a significant step up from this one. As for this film, suffice to say that Boetticher squeezed everything he could out of a limited budget and there are no wasted scenes or extended dialog and the plot is as simple as they come. Lastly, beautiful Karen Steele is also in the cast, but she doesn't have too much to do besides listen to Scott's Code of Honor speech. One very valid criticism: Van Cleef's "villain" role in this movie doesn't really do him justice. He's far too understated and almost comes across as a gentleman. He was certainly better cast as "The Bad" for director Leone.