Ride the Man Down (1952)

Director:

Joseph Kane

Writers:

Mary C. McCall Jr. (screenplay)
Luke Short (novel)

Release Date:

25 November 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Luke Short's Saturday Evening Post Fighting Story!

Plot:

Disputes over a dead man's property escalate into a bloody range war. |

Plot Keywords:

Range War | Trucolor | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Brian Donlevy	...	Bide Marriner
Rod Cameron	...	Will Ballard
Ella Raines	...	Celia Evarts
Forrest Tucker	...	Sam Danfelser
Barbara Britton	...	Lottie Priest
Chill Wills	...	Ike Adams
J. Carrol Naish	...	Sheriff Joe Kneen
Jim Davis	...	Red Courteen
Taylor Holmes	...	Lowell Priest
James Bell	...	John Evarts
Paul Fix	...	Ray Cavanaugh
Al Caudebec	...	Mel Young
Roydon Clark	...	Jim Young
Roy Barcroft	...	Russ Schultz
Douglas Kennedy	...	Harve Garrison

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Trucolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Norway:A (1959) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #15905) | Sweden:15

Company:

Republic Pictures

Trivia:

Screenwriter Mary C. McCall Jr. said of this film, "From the outset this was as happy a spell of work as occurs but rarely in a screenwriter's life. [Director Joseph Kane] is an admirer of Luke Short's work. I loved the novel. In transferring the story to the visual medium we didn't have any problems."

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Un americano a Roma (1954)

enjoyable fast moving western.

Ride the Man Down lasts 90 minutes but so much happens that probably 30 minutes more were needed. The story is about a huge ranch that when the owner dies in a blizzard, becomes prey to a lot of other cattlemen, since the laws about the property of land in that region were not very precise. Rod Cameron is Will Ballard, the man who tries to keep the ranch together. Ella Raines is Celia, the woman who will inherit the ranch and who is engaged to Forrest Tucker (Sam), a man that from the start you can see is no good. No good either is the father of Lottie (Barbara Britton) who is Cameron's fiancée. Bide Marriner (Brian Donlevy) and Red Courteen (Jim Davis) are the most significant candidates to invade the ranch. The real trouble starts when Ray Cavanaugh (Paul Fix) kills John Evarts (James Bell) who was managing the ranch shooting him on his back. As there is non stop action in this western, it keeps you interested, my only criticism would be for the final shootout that takes place at night in the dark. Shootouts in the dark might lower the film's budget but they take away what could be one of the best moments. Anyhow, I really enjoyed this film.