Watch Ride a Crooked Trail For Free

hyped garbage

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

I always have some misgivings watching Audie Murphy portray a bad guy (Gunsmoke, No Name on the Bullet); he's got that clean cut All-American look going for him that doesn't seem to jive with his character. The same is true here, but the thing is, he's not really an outlaw in this picture except in name. Arriving in a Western town while on the run, he's mistakenly assumed to be the U.S. Marshal who was tracking him at the start of the story. Too bad about the marshal, he should have watched his step.This may be a starring vehicle for Murphy, but it's Walter Matthau who holds this thing together as the cantankerous Judge Kyle. He's a pretty tough lawman who's word goes in town (how come this town didn't have a name?), and his gruff manner steals every scene he's in. It doesn't take long for the judge to read the fake marshal, but he keeps his play close to the vest until an intended bank robbery eventually goes down. Joe Maybe (Murphy) maintains an uneasy alliance with outlaw Sam Keeler (Henry Silva), and when the time is right, the Curtis Bank will be ripe for picking.The hook in the story rests with the young boy Jimmy who's befriended by Maybe. I liked the tale about Maybe getting his name, shortened from May's boy, and how he was raised by some saloon gals. It was a bit too coincidental that Jimmy's growing up in the same circumstances, and it didn't quite ring true to me to see him doing that much school work. About as implausible as Maybe playing house with Keeler's girlfriend Tessa (Gia Scala), while planning on robbing the bank herself along with Keeler's bunch. So it's no surprise that Maybe second guesses himself throughout the picture and winds up going straight for good after settling the score with Keeler. It's probably best not to think about all of this too much while watching the picture, especially the part about Maybe and Tessa given their own furnished home to live in within twenty four hours of arriving on the scene. No wonder Murphy had that incredulous look on his face throughout the story.

This was a good Westrn, pretty much of a formula Western of Hollywood from 1950 to 1990, in which the hero begins as a bad guy. One wonders if a Western hero could ever have started out good to be a Hollywood hero. The answer is "no". Murphy plays an outlaw who assumes the identity of a lawman whom he sees fall off a cliff. He becomes a celebrity in a town where the law in a roguish judge played by Walter Mattheau. The movie is more of a showcase for him than anything, and he does brilliantly. People who know who Audie Murphy really is show up with ulterior motives, and Murphy finds himself in the middle. No doubt, most people will find the main character's part a bit formula, but likewise, most people will enjoy Mattheau very much. A lot of likable aspects to this story. Not packed with gunplay, but there are several guns going off. Enough action to keep 98% of the audience interested. Lots to like.

i really enjoyed this western as i always liked audie murphy westerns. also a great performance by walter matthau as the crusty old judge. also gia scala is great as the bad girl with a big hearti wish they would show this, other audie murphy movies and all the 50's westernsfrom universal-international on tcm. also what do we have to do to get these great old western from universal on DVD? "ride a crooked trail" rates up there with me with "the cimmaron kid" "night passage" "the duel at silver creek" and the "unforgiven" as audie's great westerns. they put out old black & white westerns from the 30's and 40's from other studios but why don't they put universal's great color westerns from the 50's out on DVD

For a modestly budgeted, unambitious horse opera, this is as good as it gets. Audie Murphy's Western vehicles of the 50s don't command the respect of Randolph Scott's or Joel McCrea's, but they are just as entertaining. A few of them ("No Name On The Bullet," "Posse From Hell") have an unusual edge that makes them noteworthy, but this one simply transcends its limitations to be a damned good entertainment. Walter Matthau steals every scene he's in as an alcoholic judge, while Murphy's subtly nervous performance as the would-be outlaw pretending he's a respected lawman may remind one of David Janssen as TV's "The Fugitive." Audie reportedly was uncomfortable with romantic scenes, but here he handles some innuendo-laden dialogue with Gia Scala quite nicely. Henry Silva and Mort Mills provide some surprisingly restrained (for this sort of thing) villainy. The premise (good-at-heart outlaw is reformed by wearing a badge) was old hat, but the execution is great! Set your expectations for a medium budgeted Western with no pretensions, and you won't be disappointed. You may even be pleasantly surprised.