Run for Cover (1955)

Mistaken for train robbers, Matt Dow and Davey Bishop are shot at by the sheriff and his posse but they are cleared and hired as lawmen.

Director:

Nicholas Ray

Writers:

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

Stars:

James Cagney, Viveca Lindfors, John Derek

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

Odd little Western that gets off to a snappy start when a man (Matt Dow) is mistaken as a train robber. After the town's sheriff shoots the kid he's riding with, Dow clears his name and ends up as the new sheriff. He romances a Swedish woman and settles in to a peaceful life only to find that the boy has a few secrets of his own.

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Plot Keywords:

older cowboy younger cowboy relationship | secret past | dark past | shot to death | bank robbery | 

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Taglines:

The story of a man apart... who brought faith to a youth, love to a woman, justice to a land!

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 May 1955 (USA)

Also Known As:

Colorado

Filming Locations:

Bloomfield, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$1,500,000, 31 December 1955

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pine-Thomas Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Train is the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad which opened in 1882 and is still in operation. Most all the exterior filming was shot in Silverton, Colorado.

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Goofs

When Mr. Swenson falls off his buckboard, he lands on a rectangular patch of ground obviously prepared in advance for the stunt.

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Quotes

Mr. Swenson: There's work to do. Farms do not run themselves.
Helga Swenson: In a minute father.
Mr. Swenson: In the old country children do not say, "In a minute," when the father speaks.
Helga Swenson: That's why I like America.

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Connections

Referenced in Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore (2010)

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Soundtracks

Run for Cover
Music by Howard Jackson
Lyric by Jack Brooks

User Reviews

Adequate Star Western beautifully photographed!

Nicholas Ray will be remembered for "The Lusty Men," "Johnny Guitar," "Run for Cover," and "The True Story of Jesse James."

With a slight echo of "High Noon," the film is Cagney's first Western, shot in stunning Technicolor and VistaVision, since Lloyd Bacon's "Oklahoma Kid" in 1939...

Cagney was beginning to show his age, but his performance is colorful as always... It is interesting to remark that Grant Withers whom Cagney had supported in his film debut ("Sinner's Holiday," 1930) and his third movie ("Other Men's Women", 1931) is in his support as Gentry....

Released from a six-year prison term for a crime he did not commit, Cagney goes West, where he meets John Derek...

Riding along, they innocently become involved in a train robbery and are later ambushed by a posse... Derek's leg is smashed and is taken to Viveca Lindfors' farm where she nurses him and falls in love with Cagney...

The townsfolk offer Cagney the tin star, and he appoints Derek (who is now a cripple), as his deputy...

Derek's bitterness over his bad accident separates the two men in different directions and soon are seen on opposite side in a fight involving Grant Withers' widely known gang and a group of Indians...