Ride the Man Down (1952)

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

Director:

Joseph Kane

Writers:

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

Stars:

Brian Donlevy, Rod Cameron, Ella Raines

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

During the 1892 blizzard, pioneer ranching magnate Phil Evarts dies. His Hatchet Ranch is inherited by brother John and daughter Celia. However, much of the ranch is on free grazing land. Many of the local ranchers and cattlemen try to take advantage of Phil Evarts' death by grazing on this land and using its water for free. Ranchers Harve Garrison, Russ Schultz and Ray Cavanaugh desire the Hatchet Ranch's rich grazing land and take it with impunity. Others, like greedy rancher Bide Marriner, want it all for themselves. Even cattle rustlers, like Red Courteen, get involved by rustling cattle from the Evarts family whose power they resent. Because the old rancher Phil Evarts isn't around to protect the Hatchet Ranch anymore, his trusted foreman, Will Ballard, steps-in to safeguard the interests of Phil Evarts' heirs, especially Celia's whom he adores. Celia's fiance, Sam Danfelser, is the jealous type but Celia assures him that she only loves him and she only considers Will a good ...

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Plot Keywords:

year 1892 | 1890s | 19th century | rancher | sheriff | 

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Taglines:

Luke Short's Saturday Evening Post Fighting Story!

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

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."

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Connections

Featured in An American in Rome (1954)

User Reviews

Commendable film with many well-known Western actors

Several offerings of this film are available on YouTube, and I'm surprised that so far there are only two reviews here on IMDB - and these sum up RTMD very well indeed.

The cast includes many well-known and not so-well-known actors from 1950s Westerns, all of whom acquit themselves well.

As has been suggested, there was a lot of plot crammed into 90 minutes, and the number of characters' names was such that I had to concentrate to work out who was who. And there were quite a few localities named.

The fight between Rod Cameron and Forrest Tucker was one of the most impressive I've seen in films of this period, and Ella Raines as Celia Evarts acquitted herself very well against the roughs who invaded her home.

The final shoot-out in the dark seemed short, almost to the point of being anticlimactic.

But overall a good Western.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 November 1952 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ride the Man Down

Filming Locations:

Kanab, Utah, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Republic Pictures (I)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Trucolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1