Ride Out for Revenge (1957)

A lot of fun.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Some westerns portrayed the American Indians as unthinking, one- dimensional idiots--riding around in circles waiting to be picked off by folks in the wagon train or by the cavalry. Others, like this one, are more sympathetic and show these same people as multidimensional and decent.When the film begins, the local chief is murdered. This is a serious problem, as the chief was a man of peace--and the new, younger chief is more headstrong and ready for revenge. Fortunately, there is a local guy (Rory Calhoun) who understands these Indians and treats them decently--and he can diffuse the situation. But the town is a hellish place that wants no part of peace and the local cavalry commander (Lloyd Bridges) is a cowardly jerk-face. With the Indians on the warpath and Calhoun's character the only person with any common sense, things look pretty awful for this stupid town.The Indians are generally portrayed well. However, a complaint I often have is that the main Indians are played by white folks--such as Vince Edwards! So, it's like two steps forward and one step back. Overall, however, the film is interesting and presents a more balanced view of the west. The only problem is that, at times, the characters are a bit more like caricatures--a bit too one- dimensional to be believable.

Saddled with a ridiculously corny and over-talkative screenplay in which all the clichés of white men versus Indians are trotted out, plus the spectacle of Vince Edwards of all people playing the Indian chief's son, while the co-star of reasonably competent hero Rory Calhoun, namely Gloria Grahame, listlessly walks through a trite and entirely superfluous role, this is a movie to avoid. The director is a gent named Bernard Girard who worked mostly as a writer and director in TV. He just loves filling the screen with repetitive close-ups. In fact, the movie would be much more interesting if shorn of at least twenty minutes of this utterly boring material. On the other hand, most of the action footage is staged with reasonable competence and the use of some mildly attractive natural locations is at least a step in the right direction. Also on the plus side, Joanne Gilbert certainly lives up to her "Pretty Willow" name, while Frank DeKova manages to make his Indian chief reasonably credible. Lloyd Bridges, alas, has large slices of the script's verbosity to contend against, but at least he puts up a good fight.

Ride Out For Revenge is a sincere portrayal of the anguish of the American Indians, the Cheyennes specifically, in the aftermath of losing the Indian Wars. It also shows the bitter prejudice of the white settlers who have also suffered losses as a result of the wars.The problem I find with this film is the rather unbelievably noble portrayal of Rory Calhoun in the lead. Not his fault, there's not much he can do with a character that's just too good. As is explained he's sustained personal losses himself, a sister and husband killed and he's raising his nephew Michael Winkelman and boarding with widow Gloria Grahame. As fetching as she ever was in movies, Grahame's got a real thing for Calhoun and he may have given her a tumble once or twice, but right now Rory has got eyes for Indian maid Joanne Gilbert.I'm also not sure why a troop of cavalry is stationed in the town where Calhoun is marshal. But they're there and headed by Lloyd Bridges a captain who never would have found his way into any John Ford cavalry film. He's as slimy as they come. When chief Frank DeKova comes into town to plead for supplies for his people, he gets shot down in the street like a dog and son Vincent Edwards vows vengeance. That sets in motion all the events of the film that follows.With characters I just could not buy, Ride Out For Revenge falls short of its goal for sympathy for the Cheyenne. One of the main characters dies and one is thought to have died in the end. The actual death of the first should have set off a big inquiry.Kirk Douglas's Bryna Productions produced this one and Kirk was wise not to take the lead himself here.

Lloyd Bridges shines as a cowardly calvary captain while actor, Vince Edwards, looks terribly miscast as an Indian in this Bryna Film Production. Bryna Productions was the company that was formed by actor, Kirk Douglas, that produced such films as "Spartacus", "Last Train From Gun Hill", "Paths of Glory", etc. I suspect this film was shot around the time that "Last Train From Gun Hill" was shot as some of the scenery where Rory Calhoun (Tate) has a confrontation with Vince Edwards (Chief Little Wolf) appears to be the same area where Earl Holliman rapes and kills Kirk Douglas wife in "Last Train From Gun Hill". What "Last Train From Gun Hill" has that this film doesn't have is a good script, a solid plot and beautiful Technicolor. "Ride Out For Revenge" is an interesting and entertaining film in so far as it points out the many wrongs that the "white man" has inflicted on the Indians as well as the hatred that has been sowed over the years through the losses of life from both sides. The plot puts Tate (Rory Calhoun) who loves an Indian princess (Joanne Gilbert) in the middle of an Indian vs "white man" confrontation. Now add the fact, that gold is found on the Indians land. Throw in a cowardly captain (Bridges) who hates Indians but would love to have their land and their gold. Sprinkle a widow (Gloria Graham) and a child (Michael Winkleman) that have both lost spouse and father by Indian massacre. Add a touch of vengeful Indian (Vince Edwards) whose father has been murdered by the town's people .... and you have all the ingredients for what is to come. The film, in my opinion, is at best a mediocre western with a very important but "preachy" message. What I found most interesting and important was the morale of the film which can be found is some of the final dialog of the film. Pretty Willow (Joanne Gilbert) says "If everything changes ... what will happen when someone comes to take the land from the "white man" and Tate (Rory Calhoun) responds "I don't know I never gave it much thought."