Who payed the critics

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Released in 1966 and directed by Monte Hellman from Jack Nicholson's script, "Ride in the Whirlwind" is about three traveling cowhands (Nicholson, Cameron Mitchell & Tom Filer) who are wrongly targeted by vigilantes out to apprehend a gang of murdering robbers. Cutie Millie Perkins has a peripheral role.The best thing about this barebones independent Western is its mundane realism where it comes across as a docudrama. While it's slow and sometimes dull, the subtext concerning vengeance and mistaken indictment is interesting. When the three protagonists come across a body hanging from a tree at the beginning it's a grim omen of things to come. Nicholson had a great grasp on lifelike Old West discourse. "Ride in the Whirlwind" is pretty much on par with its more surrealistic sister film "The Shooting," which was shot immediately after this one and at the same general locations.The film runs 82 minutes and was shot in Kanab & Paria, Utah.GRADE: B-

This independent and offbeat film deals with three cowboys who are mistaken for members a band , then they're wrongly pursued by a relentless posse . This outlandish Western is finely set against barren backdrop and well photographed outdoors . Slow-moving , a little boring , however being packed with exciting pursuits , strong performances and noisy gunplay . Written , starred and produced by Jack Nicholson along with an uncredited Roger Corman . Made concurrently , back to back , with ¨The shooting¨ with the same cast (Millie Perkins, Jack Nicholson) , cameraman (Gregory Sandor) and maverick director (Hellman) . Slammed by the intelligentsia when it was released , today become a minor cult movie , as well as ¨The shooting¨ .The motion picture was professionally directed by Monte Hellman (Two-lane blacktop , Cockfighter) in his usual visual style . His stars are similarly independent-minded actors such as Jack Nicholson , Harry Dean Stanton and Cameron Mitchell . From his two known strange , outlandish Westerns in which Hellman directed in rare as well as special qualities , he has remained fiercely independent with lukewarm reception by public, but praised by critics . In his first films he teamed up Roger Corman who produced his earlier movies with a relative success , however nowadays he only makes fateful B movies and failure television movies .

This movie was written and co-produced by Jack Nicholson. The story is a bit lacking in content and character development, and at times a tad boring. However, the movie is still a pretty decent movie, with enough acting and story to leave the audience happy. I suspect it was filmed in Utah or Arizona. The landscape was very rocky and unfriendly desert. This fit in well with the starkness and brutality of the film. Jack Nicholson stars along television veteran Cameron Mitchell (who I always thought had a slight resemblance to Dean Martin)as two petty carriage robbers on the lam. They run into a gang led by a rather sharp leader (Harry Dean Stanton). Neither of the gangs of robbers are "bad" guys, but they are hardened. It seemed throughout the movie that the only killing they did was in self-defense as part of their duty as thieves. Yet, a vigilante committee is organized to hunt them down. It is an unfair fight. The outlaws in both gangs number eight (one of whom is already almost dead) versus a vigilante posse of about two dozen. Capture is not an option, because it means an immediate hanging. Stanton's character and a familiar black actor are the two survivors of the other gang. They are smoked out of their hiding place, and you see the futility of their efforts in inevitably being hanged. Mitchell plays the older, wiser of the two heroes (or anti-heroes). He knows how to evade capture. Nicholson plays a hardened thief, but one who is more impulsive and less experienced in the business. You can't help but feel that the "bad guys" are the real heroes. The vigilante posse are moral, honest citizens, but definitely the "bullies". In the end, the elder thief (Mitchell) sacrifices his life, so the younger thief (Nicholson) can escape to freedom. You can't help but feel, that although a little sparse in Nicholson's script, that there is a certain earthiness and rawness to the western that makes it a bit unique.

If I had to explain with complete certainty why Ride in the Whirlwind is better than average it wouldn't be very easy because on the surface it seems average through and through. It was made obviously for bargain-basement prices (I think director/co-producer Hellman once said that he didn't think anyone would see the westerns he made in the 60s), yet with that, and within the simple confines, there's a freedom in other ways too. On the surface it seems like a cowboy story gone awry, as cattle herders Jack Nicholson and Cameron Mitchell, along with another partner, are on their way to Waco and come upon a cabin occupied by Harry Dean Stanton (in total 'bad-ass' mode with an eye-patch) and his gang (who previously robbed a stagecoach and killed a few of its passengers), and neither want any trouble so they settle for the night. The next day, of course, a posse has discovered Stanton's gang's whereabouts, and there's a shootout. Somehow, Nicholson and Mitchell (not the other partner) sneak out during the shoot-out, but are of course mistaken for being part of the gang, and are sought out to be strung-up.What makes this simple premise- of cowboys falsely accused of pillaging and murder- more interesting than anything else is the consistent sense of dread and of the romantic sheen of more popular A-list westerns being stripped away. Since B-movies, not just B-westerns, concern more-so the basics of the characters, Hellman and writer Nicholson (who with this and the Trip shows that he actually isn't a bad writer with original material) dig into the fatalism tapped into both sides, of the posse and the prey. Some of the best scenes come up in the time that would usually be called the filler, when Nicholson and Mitchell hold up at a farmer's house and try and get their mind off of the situation with little distractions- Wes (Nicholson) checking out the horses, the two of them attempting a checkers game, trying to sleep- and what isn't said or the extra meaning behind the matter of fact dialog means a good deal. There's also the aspect to their not really being a sense of true justice, as the posse have taken it upon themselves to go after these men; you know just looking at these barely one-dimensional figures that all they want is a hanging done, no more no less.I'm not sure how much allegory could be drawn from the picture, though on a first viewing sometimes the stilted acting by the supporting players drew away from that (there's also a practical lack of wit from the screenplay, which is appropriate but nears being a little bland for its own good). And while it doesn't dig into the complete heels of the western genre like a later John Ford or Leone movie, or even Unforgiven, Hellman's film is a cut above many other westerns that would settle for conventions being without any challenges to the situations. The climax of the picture doesn't come as too much of a shock to those who've seen their share of genre material, but it was the best way to end the picture: it's not really a happy ending, in spite of the 'riding off into the sunset' shot. There's no hope in this world, not on any side, even if complete justice is not sought. Short and succinct, this is one of those flicks to see in the one dollar bin at the video store, if only for Nicholson and Stanton's eye-patch.