Watch Rawhide For Free

Highly Overrated But Still Good

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

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

In times past, if Alfred Hitchcock were ever to have made a western, "Rawhide" would of fit the bill. Following the first ten minuets (the hook) of the film the conflict and anxiety never lets up. If you are a lover of the American Western, "Rawhide" is a must see.

Yes, stages were often pulled by mules, rather than by horses, as in most westerns. Although in most westerns, we are interested in the passengers or strong box, as articulated elsewhere, without their mail-carrying function, we would have had to charge passengers more than their $200. from San Francisco to St. Louis or vice versa, for a 25 day bone-rattling journey.This is the first of 2 films I'm familiar with in which Ty Power and Susan Hayward costarred. The second: "Untamed", is also essentially a western, only Zulus replace Native Americans as their adversaries. Both are worth a look and available at You Tube. This film mainly deals with the relationships between 4 escaped prisoners, and the other inhabitants of an Overland relay station at Rawhide Pass. Originally, this included crusty Edgar Buchanan as the regular stationmaster, who is giving the son of the head of the eastern division of Overland a taste of what it's like to be a stationmaster in the West. Unfortunately, during an altercation with the 4 escapees, who had taken over the relay station, he was shot dead. This left Ty(Tom) and Susan(Vinnie)as the only other adults at the station between stage stopovers. In addition, Susan is carrying her deceased sister's baby, Callie, to be deposited with relatives in Missouri. Of the escapees, Zimmerman(Hugh Marlowe)is the self-appointed leader,since he apparently engineered the escape the others only incidentally took advantage of. He has a problem with Jack Elan(Tevis), who is very persistent I his goal of having sex with Susan. Zimmerman figures he needs Ty to help convince the drivers that everything is normal, when they arrive. Since Susan is assumed to be Ty's wife, Zimmerman doesn't want Ty upset by the 4 forcing themselves on Susan. Finally, Elan has had enough of Zimmerman interfering in his plans, and shoots him dead, also killing companion Gratz(George Tobias), for good measure. Since the other escapee, Yancy(Dean Jagger) had wandered off somewhere, that leaves Elan as the only escapee right around the station. Susan is running around looking for Callie, who has wandered off. Meanwhile, Elan and Ty engage in s gun battle. When Callie wanders into view, Elan changes his target to her vicinity, with the warning that he will be more accurate in the future if Ty doesn't come out with his hands up. Ty complies, with the prospect of being shot as he moves toward Elan, as commanded. But, Susan sees the situation and finds Gratz's riffle beside his body, shooting Elan dead just in the nick of time. The ending leaves the fate of Yancy up in the air. Also, any possible future relationship between Ty and Susan is left to the viewer's imagination. At one point, the escapees were very interested in a large gold shipment said to be on the next stage from the West. However, this seems to have been forgotten about in the ruckus surrounding Elan's pursuit of Susan, and Elan's killing of his compatriots..Calli, a toddler, does her parts well, giving us a fright as she wanders around the legs of the mules. She cries appropriately when Elan is shooting slugs in her direction, that kick up dust nearby.I would say that "Hangman's Knot", which has a screen play rather like this one, is more interesting, as is "Untamed", which I previously mentioned. See the latter film, as well as the present one at YouTube.

What makes a western above average? A good story, good direction, good actors and good action scenes. Cinematography also, no doubt. Rawhide has all these elements, the story might seem conventional , but the characters played by Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward bring a new aspect , Hayward as the determined, sure of herself, woman who is carrying her sister's baby and Power as the rich boy who is spending some time at a stagecoach station to learn more about life. Hugh Marlowe as Zimmerman( remember Bob Dylan?), the bad guy who is not so bad, brings me to mind the westerns of Budd Boetticher, specially "The Tall T". But Jack Elam as Tevis is really sick and vicious. The stagecoach is driven by mules and takes more than 25 days from California to St. Louis. Every time it shows up you hear "Oh Susanna" on the sound track. Henry Hathaway sure knew how to make a western. He ranks among the best, on the same level as Anthony Mann and Budd Boetticher.

Watched this again on the new DVD released & all I can say is WOW, I was impressed. This film has vaulted into my top 20 Westerns.First of all from beginning to end its hitting on all cylinders. This is a Stage Station film in the tradition of "The Tall T" & "Comanche Station" of the later Bud Boetticher/Randolf Scott Ranown series, all of the action takes place in the stage station and its immediate surroundings.The opening sequences of a stagecoach crossing the rugged barren wilderness including shots of it passing through snowbound passes are just spectacular. The Black & White cinematography is gorgeous, and add to that the historically accurate use of a team of mules pulling it makes this film one of the best portrayals of stage travel I've seen. Even the stagecoach itself is adorned with a "headlight" type lantern for night travel.This is one of those films where you learn some bits of Western lore, its a good example of what was prevalent in that "golden age" of the Western 1950 -1971 when the audience through both films like this and the abondanza of Westerns on TV were inundated with things western where you were in the aggregate going to a sort of "Western University". Its a knowledge that is getting lost now and a good example is the illogical stupidity and implausible scenarios in the recent remake of 3:10 to Yuma.But I've been digressing. Lets get back to Rawhide.Care is also taken to show how the arriving team of mules is changed out for a fresh team. For those who are not familiar with western staglines most stage stops "stations" were located between 15 to 20 miles apart so that fresh teams could replace the arriving team. Each tandem of driver & shotgun made a run of about 100 miles a day, so they would go through between 5-7 stage stops in a shift. At some stage stations they had lunch or dinner for the passengers, All the aspect of working a stage station was depicted spot on. The set is perfect.Dir Henry Hathaway does an impressive job in this film, his shots and compositions are beautiful & all the actors are convincing. This film boasts Edgar Buchanan's finest performance as Stationmaster Sam Todd, and Jack Elam is his creepiest as Treviss, Tyrone Power is Tom Owens, Susan Hayward as Vinne Holt a tough ex-saloon singer turned protector/surrogate mother of her dead sisters daughter, Hugh Marlow as the gang leader, George Tobias as Gratz, and a great performance by Dean Jagger as the slow on the uptake "one horse horse thief" Yancy. Its got a very well integrated low key un-intrusive to the story "love interest" between Power & Hataway a good example of they way it should be handled in all Westerns.This film should be in anybodies Western Collection, 8/10 or better.