Memorable, crazy movie

Fantastic!

Absolutely the worst movie.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

'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.

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-

Innocent cowboys, including Cameron Mitchell and Jack Nicholson, stop for food and rest at a cabin that unknown to them, is the hideout for a group of outlaws.Soon they find themselves on the run from a vicious hanging party and having to take teenage Millie Perkins and her family hostage in order to buy themselves some time.Good performances, direction by Monte Hellman, and an unbelievably tense script by Jack Nicholson help make this a thriller worth watching.The finale is absolutely heart-wrenching!A great independent western filmed simultaneously with The Shooting (also with Nicholson and Perkins), this is considered the lesser of the two, though not by much. Both films are fantastic.

After their proposed film about abortion was turned down by the studio in 1965, Jack Nicholson combined with Monte Hellman as writer/director to produce two Westerns for producer Roger Corman, each shot in the space of eighteen days on a minimal budget. The two films, The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind, were never released in American theaters but built an audience from television and European showings. Gradually developing a cult following, they have now been restored and released on DVD in North America. Though filmed in the Western genre, Ride in the Whirlwind might justifiably be called an anti-Western since there are no heroes or villains, no one to love or hate. There are just people going about their life trying to survive as best they can, operating on a rigid code of behavior that does not allow them much flexibility.After a stagecoach is held up by Blind Dick (Harry Dean Stanton) and his gang, the gunmen retreat to an isolated cabin to spend the night. Passing through are three cowboys Vern (Cameron Mitchell), Wes (Jack Nicholson), and Otis (Tom Filer) headed to Waco Texas after the rodeo they were to perform in is canceled. They pass a lynching victim strung up on a pole, and stop at the same cabin where the gang is holed up looking for some rest. Surprisingly, they are welcomed by Blind Dick, ostensibly the one responsible for the lynching but find that they soon have unwelcome visitors. The sheriff and his posse have surrounded the house and begin shooting at the occupants, wrongly assuming that the three travelers are also part of the gang.Inarticulate, the cowhands are unable or unwilling to try and explain to the lawmen the fact that they are innocent. After a protracted shootout, Otis is killed and the gang members are burned out of their cabin and hanged. Vern and Wes escape on foot but are followed and tracked by the lawmen, bound by their code of unthinking frontier justice. The two innocent men stumble upon a farmhouse that had already been visited by the posse and are looked after by a farmer Evan (George Mitchell) and his daughter Abigail (Millie Perkins).Eating and passing the time playing checkers, they know that sooner or later the posse will come back, if only to court Abigail. When they do return, Evan's inability to see that Vern and Wes have no choice but to steal two horses is very costly. In debunking the Western myth of good guys and bad guys, Hellman has directed a film in which the ordinariness of the life overshadows the mythos of the exciting frontier. Yet while Ride in the Whirlwind may be one of the most authentic and haunting Westerns ever made, it is also one of the saddest, a film in which the operative word is not justice or camaraderie but loneliness and lost opportunity.