Rancho Notorious, despite the colorful title, is a dud. The film starts off with a stereotypical western beginning: Vern Haskell (Arthur Kennedy) is a nice rancher who goes on the trail of the outlaw that murdered his fiancé. The trail leads him to Chuck-a-luck, a haven for outlaws run by former saloon girl Altar Keene (Marlene Dietrich). He soon enters into a torrid love triangle between him, Altar and veteran gunslinger Frenchy Fairmont (Mel Ferrer), while also trying to find the murderer of his fiancé.
Directed by Fritz Lang(!), Rancho Notorious is definitely an interesting film. The first half of the film, covering Vern trying to discover Chuck-a-luck, is actually quite good. The scene with Vern, Frenchy and the politicians is quite fun. However, the rest of the film is standard western stuff, and I kinda zoned out towards the end.
The uncharismatic Arthur Kennedy is awful in the lead; the production crew uselessly tried to make Mel Ferrer look older than Kennedy but putting a grey streak in his hair! Hearing everyone calling 38-year old Kennedy "boy" got grating after a while.
Marlene gives a typically good performance, while Ferrer gives the best performance of the film as the weary gunslinger (I wish the film had been about his character instead). William Frawley gets a memorable bit as a saloon owner, and Chuck-a-luck is populated by recognizable faces like George Reeves, Francis McDonald and Dan Seymour.
Overall, Rancho Notorious wastes the talent of the people involved, though it's still an entertaining 89 minutes.
Directed by Fritz Lang(!), Rancho Notorious is definitely an interesting film. The first half of the film, covering Vern trying to discover Chuck-a-luck, is actually quite good. The scene with Vern, Frenchy and the politicians is quite fun. However, the rest of the film is standard western stuff, and I kinda zoned out towards the end.
The uncharismatic Arthur Kennedy is awful in the lead; the production crew uselessly tried to make Mel Ferrer look older than Kennedy but putting a grey streak in his hair! Hearing everyone calling 38-year old Kennedy "boy" got grating after a while.
Marlene gives a typically good performance, while Ferrer gives the best performance of the film as the weary gunslinger (I wish the film had been about his character instead). William Frawley gets a memorable bit as a saloon owner, and Chuck-a-luck is populated by recognizable faces like George Reeves, Francis McDonald and Dan Seymour.
Overall, Rancho Notorious wastes the talent of the people involved, though it's still an entertaining 89 minutes.