The Ride Back (1957)

Director:

Allen H. Miner

Writer:

Anthony Ellis (writer)

Release Date:

13 September 1957 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Tagline:

It Rides a Trail NO Western Ever Rode Before!

Plot:

A troubled sheriff, a failure at everything in his life, tries to redeem himself by extraditing a popular gunfighter from Mexico to stand trial for murder.

Plot Keywords:

Sheriff | Mexico | Failure | Language Barrier | Adult Western

Cast

Anthony Quinn	...	Bob Kallen
William Conrad	...	Sheriff Chris Hamish
Lita Milan	...	Elena
Victor Millan	...	Father Ignatius
Jorge Treviño	...	Border Guard (as George Trevino)
Ellen Hope Monroe	...	Little Girl
Joe Dominguez	...	Luis
Louis Towers	...	Boy

Also Known As:

The Way Back (USA)

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Janss Conejo Ranch, Thousand Oaks, California, USA

Company:

Associates & Aldrich Company, The

Trivia:

Oscar Rudolph replaced Allen H. Miner and directed ten days of the film, uncredited.

Quotes:

Sheriff Chris Hamish: I've never been a success at anything I tried to do. Anything I ever tried to do ever, failed. I've been a failure and that's all, a plain old failure. But I'm not going to be this time. I'm going to make this one. I'm going to do this right!

No Travel Lodge in These Parts

I may have missed someone, but by my count only six actors have lines in this ultra-spare Western. The production comes from respected director Robert Aldrich's independent company with William Conrad himself producing. That may account for Quinn's appearance in a cheapie so soon after his Oscar for Lust for Life (1956)—plus, the likelihood that the streamlined production could be shot in less than 2 weeks.

As a Western, it's an offbeat concept— Sheriff Conrad returning fugitive Quinn from Mexico to stand trial. The narrative is basically two nervous guys riding across the great outdoors with some drunken Apaches lurking in the background. No wonder the sheriff can't relax. However, the movie comes across as more interesting than suspenseful, mainly because crucial compromises are made with Quinn's character. He's simply made too likable and respected to generate the kind of tension needed, which may have been the price of putting a headliner like Quinn in the lead. It's really Conrad's resolute sheriff that holds interest as a number of surprising self-doubts begin to unfold. His nicely shaded performance shows how much more than a great radio voice Conrad was. Anyway, it's an entertaining little programmer with a rare distinction. It's the only film I've seen with more untranslated lines outside English than in English—an unusual effect. So, unless you speak Spanish, you may have to do a lot of inferring.

(In passing—it's probably a matter of taste, but to my ear the title tune may be the worst of the era, bellowed out by a decidedly untuneful Eddie Albert.)