Ride Clear of Diablo (1954)

Director:

Jesse Hibbs

Writers:

D.D. Beauchamp (additional dialogue)
Ellis Marcus (story)

Release Date:

23 August 1954 (Sweden)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Railroad surveyer Murphy goes after rustlers who murdered his father and brother. Along the way, he...

Plot Keywords:

Railroad | Beautiful Woman | Murder

Cast

Audie Murphy	...	Clay O'Mara
Susan Cabot	...	Laurie Kenyon
Dan Duryea	...	Whitey Kincade
Abbe Lane	...	Kate
Russell Johnson	...	Jed Ringer
Paul Birch	...	Sheriff Fred Kenyon
William Pullen	...	Tom Meredith
Jack Elam	...	Tim Lowerie
Denver Pyle	...	Reverend Moorehead

Also Known As:

The Breckenridge Story (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:U | West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:(Banned) (1955) | USA:Approved (PCA #16701) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Quotes:

Whitey Kincaid: If I was smart, I'd shoot you right now. Except I think I'll keep you around for awhile...just to see what makes you work.
Clay O'Mara: Maybe you're getting soft, Whitey. Maybe you're turning into a human being.
Whitey Kincaid: If I ever feel that coming on, I'll shoot myself.

Soundtrack:

Noche de Ronda

Average Murphy Oater

"Ride Clear of Diablo" was another of the Audie Murphy series of "B-Plus" westerns released by Universal during the 50s and early 60s. Universal always populated the casts with their contract players and other familiar faces. They were well mounted little films usually running about 80 minutes and mostly shot in color.

The story in this film involves Clay O'Meara (Murphy) returning to town following the murder of his father and brother by unscrupulous lawyer Tom Meredith (William Pullen), crooked Sheriff Fred Kenyon (Paul Birch) and henchman Jed Ringer (Russell Johnson). To throw him off the trail, the unholy three blame the crime on known bad man Whitey Kincaid (Dan Duryea) and send O'Meara off to Diablo to bring him in knowing full well that he'll probably be killed by the gunman. Kincaid meanwhile takes a liking to O'Meara and against his better judgment, lends O'Meara a hand.

The sheriff's niece is engaged to Meredith but of course, falls in love with O'Meara. Ringer meantime, is planning a double-cross of the other two and then running off with saloon girl Kate (Abbe Lane).

Murphy essentially played the same one dimensional character in his series but was always aided by superior supporting casts. Duryea, playing his signature likeable villain role, is allowed to go way over the top by director Jesse Hibbs in this one (it's about that laugh). He was always better on the wrong side of the law and was always an asset to any movie that he appeared in. The beautiful Susan Cabot plays the standard helpless heroine role and Abbe Lane gets to sing a couple of forgettable songs.

Also in the cast are veteran western performers Jack Elam, Denver Pyle, Lane Bradford and Holly Bane.

Here's a little trivia with which to end my comments:

- Audie Murphy was the most decorated American soldier in WWII; - Susan Cabot died tragically at the hands of her son, actor Christopher Jones, in 1986; - Dan Duryea wound up on the TV soap "Peyton Place" just prior to his death in 1968; - Russell Johnson became famous as "The Professor" in TV's "Gilligan's Island"; - Abbe Lane was married to band leader Xavier Cugat at the time of this film.