Man in the Saddle (1951)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

André De Toth

Writers:

Kenneth Gamet (screenplay)
Ernest Haycox (based upon the novel)

Release Date:

2 December 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

SIX-GUN SHOWDOWN IN THE SIERRAS (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

A small farmer and rancher is being harassed by his mighty and powerfull neighbour. When the neighbour...

Plot Keywords:

Rancher | Beautiful Woman | Based On Novel

Cast

Randolph Scott	...	Owen Merritt
Joan Leslie	...	Laurie Bidwell Isham
Ellen Drew	...	Nan Melotte
Alexander Knox	...	Will Isham
Richard Rober	...	Fay Dutcher
John Russell	...	Hugh Clagg
Alfonso Bedoya	...	Cultus Charley
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams	...	Bourke Prine
Clem Bevans	...	Pay Lankershim
Cameron Mitchell	...	George Vird
Richard Crane	...	Juke Vird
Frank Sully	...	Lee Repp

Also Known As:

The Outcast (UK)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Norway:A | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Producers-Actors Corporation

Trivia:

Tennessee Ernie Ford was brought in for one brief scene to sing the title song. He was, at this time, a new and relatively unknown singer. This was his first film appearance.

Soundtrack:

Man in the Saddle

Fair to middlin' western love triangle

Maybe I was expecting more from this early 1950s Randolph Scott western, but it disappointed me. Alexander Knox is out of place as a rich rancher with an English accent. Richard Rober is badly miscast as a dangerous gunman (he's too pudgy, not sinister looking or sounding at all, & is introduced while wearing a V buttoning shirt with large matching blue buttons, a bit too coordinated for a gunslinger who's not supposed to be especially into his looks). Scott is supposed to be a "man of unbreakable principles," but he's awfully close to his ex-girlfriend at the point she's engaged to someone else, & awfully close to her after she's married to another guy, & Scott can't seem to make up his mind about which woman he wants to be with anyway. I've seen much more unbreakable principles elsewhere! Scott is good in his role, but he's been much better in some of his other films (for example, "The Walking Hills," which was made not long before this film). Clem Bevans is OK as an old guy (what else is new?), but he's almost non-verbal & then disappears shortly after the movie begins. "Man in the Saddle" just doesn't hit the mark. I rate it 6/10.