Ride in the Whirlwind (1966)

Just perfect...

From my favorite movies..

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

'Ride in the Whirlwind' is second one of the existential westerns Monte Hellman directed, this one was written by Jack Nicholson who also starred in it. It was shot back to back in location of Utah with Hellman's 'The Shooting' also starring Jack Nicholson. 'Ride in the Whirlwind' is much more action packed and traditional western than 'The Shooting', but the philosophical roots are still deep.Three cowpunchers, Vern (Cameron Mitchell), Wes (Jack Nicholson) and Otis (Tom Filer), accidentally stumble on the hideout of outlaw gang led by Blind Dick (Harry Dean Stanton). The gang had previously robbed the stagecoach and killed its driver. When the trio of unfortunate cowboys show up at their door, neither of the groups want any trouble so the outlaws allow cowboys rest a night at their land. At the morning they find themselves surrounded by vigilante hanging party and the trio of cowboys are mistaken to be part of the outlaw gang. The chase begins. At the wrong place at the wrong time till to the end.Viewer will get the taste of hopelessness when we see innocent men fleeing from lynch mob who are after blind justice and we never get to rest from the unfairness of the situations they are thrown in. The posse is not there to discuss thing out, they want blood, their own justice. 'Ride in the Whirlwind' is not meant to sentimentalize Wild West, it just expresses the cruel bleakness of frontier. Even when hiding themselves from posse, Wes and Vern start to play checkers out of boredom. Wild West wasn't exactly blazing saddles all the time. It is a tale of loneliness, unfairness and hopelessness.'Ride in the Whirlwind' does not pack as much tension as 'The Shooting' and it is much straightforward film although its abrupt ending leaves the taste of uncertainty behind. Still, it is very cool acid western that shouldn't disappoint the fans of the genre, Monte Hellman or Jack Nicholson. Style with substance.

Cameron Mitchell and Jack Nicholson star in Ride In The Whirlwind as a pair of cowboys who among others like Rupert Crosse and Harry Dean Stanton get some shelter and hospitality from some outlaws. Not knowing these are outlaws fresh from a job Nicholson and Mitchell get caught up in a gun battle with a posse that's in no mood to either listen or take live captives. This is a duly constituted lynch mob.As Mitchell and Nicholson flee it turns out they're no better or worse than most of us. The sad truth is that they are forced to become outlaws, commit crimes in order to get away from the posse. So they're now outlaws any way you put it.I suspect that a lot of outlaws became outlaws precisely the way Nicholson and Mitchell did in the early days of the west. The two of them are an interesting pairing with good chemistry. And a great contrast in styles from the old studio system to a newer breed.Nicholson fans will like seeing Jack in his salad years.

I took a chance to watch a Jack Nicholson western. I was bored through the entire movie as the production was bad and the directing was bad. The story was idiotic. There is not much good to say about this movies unless if you wish to sleep watch it. To summarize this miserable western, three men are headed to Texas and none of them have a brain. They decide to rest with some outlaws who befriend them for the day and a vigilante group show up to kill the outlaws with no trial. They had been resting there and the vigilantes think they are part of the gang. They try to get out and find themselves being hunted by the vigilantes. There is no dialogue and no action in the movie. If you need to go to sleep and suffer from insomnia, this movie is your cure.

This one is much better in my opinion than The Shooting, which was made about the same time, mainly because the story made sense. The screen writing by a young Jack Nicholson is surprisingly very good.This was made on a low budget, and is a good example of how movie producers can make very good films without spending many tens of millions of dollars.There are decent performances by all the cast here. The movie is set in some wisely-chosen locations, and the camera work is very good.This one for me is more realistic and down-to-earth than most westerns. The characters are all believable, as are all the events - people are behaving the way people probably would in those situations.