Run for Cover (1955)

Director:

Nicholas Ray

Writers:

Harriet Frank Jr. (story)
Winston Miller (screenplay)

Release Date:

29 April 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Odd little Western that gets off to a snappy start when a man (James Cagney) is mistaken as a train robber...

Plot Keywords:

Sheriff | Train | Gang | Innocent | Suspect

Cast

James Cagney	...	Matt Dow
Viveca Lindfors	...	Helga Swenson
John Derek	...	Davey Bishop
Jean Hersholt	...	Mr. Swenson
Grant Withers	...	Gentry
Jack Lambert	...	Larsen
Ernest Borgnine	...	Morgan
Ray Teal	...	Sheriff
Irving Bacon	...	Scotty
Trevor Bardette	...	Paulsen
John Miljan	...	Mayor Walsh
Gus Schilling	...	Doc Ridgeway

Also Known As:

Colorado (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Aztec Ruins National Monument - 84 County Road 2900, Aztec, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Pine-Thomas Productions

Trivia:

Final film of Jean Hersholt.

Quotes:

Matt Dow: That's right, I was a jailbird. Six years in a stinkin' cell because I happened to look like another man. Six years out of my life, because men made up their minds too fast - men like you, so righteous, so willing to condemn.

Soundtrack:

Run for Cover

They live by day.

"Run for cover" occupies a curious place in Nicholas Ray's brilliant filmography.Sandwiched between "Johnny Guitar" and "Rebel without a cause,it suffered accordingly.They say Ray himself disliked it.And however,in "Run for cover" he opened up as he never did before.

In "knock on any door" ,Ray had already displayed a "father" -"son" relationship between Bogart and John Derek (who takes on here roughly the same kind of part he played at the beginning of the fifties).Ray would reach his peak with the following work ("Rebel" ) where Plato wanted Jim to be his dad and began to think of a new family with his pal and Judy.

Davey is a tragic character .He seems to be born under a bad sign ,he is known to have a very bad reputation wherever he goes.It's obvious in the scene of the train:whereas Matt (Cagney) wants to give the money back to the town,Davey is thinking of the life he could lead if this loot were his.

Matt knows that Davey needs someone to become a man .Alone he would walk on crutches .His leg is a transparent metaphor.Maybe he thinks of a new family he would rebuild with Helga (Viceca Lindfords).The relationship between the mature man and the Swede is full of tenderness and human warmth,a permanent feature in Ray's canon (see the lovers of "they live by night" and the teenagers in " Rebel without a cause".Like Jeff in "lusty man",Matt had a raw deal and he wants to make the best of the years which he's still got to live.Jeff will help Wes become a man in the cruel world of rodeo,but it's a different matter with Davey Bishop (what a surname!).

It's remarkable that violence appears twice after scenes depicting children: the first time when Matt is making a wooden gun for a boy ;the second time in the church as a choir of little boys and girls is singing a canticle to praise the Lord.

"Rebel without a cause" is probably Ray's most underrated work.Davey remains his most moving character ;without any mawkishness ,the director paints the picture of the rebel with a cause,who cannot understand why he should work for eight dollars a week when there's plenty of money to take.

The last line is my favorite in any Ray movie.In its own special way,it preserves the viewer from despair.