Purely Joyful Movie!

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

As the few other reviewers, at this point, have said, this Trucolor full feature-length Republic western packs a lot of complexity and drama, plus a little romance into it's 90 min.. Basically, it's a version of the common plot of a range war between a big ranch and a bunch of small late comers. But, in this case, it's the cattle baron, who's being besieged by a number of squatters, who want to take advantage of the death of the former owner of the Hatchet ranch: Phil Evart. The ranch is now being run by Evart's brother John(James Bell) , and his daughter Celia(Ella Raines), who are seen by the squatters as weaker than Phil in fighting to maintain their position. However, the foreman of the ranch, Will Ballard(Rod Cameron) is determined to keep the ranch intact. Toward attaining this goal, Will has a number of prime enemies, including Ray Cavanaugh(Paul Fix) Bide Marriner, (Brian Donlevy),Red Courteen(Jim Davis), And Sam Danfulser(Forrest Tucker).Each of these will die separately, shot by Will or one of his associates. Most were trying to kill Will or his associate at that time. Apparently, Will only has his old standby Ike(Chill Wills). the cook, and 2 new young cowpokes(Mel and Jim Young) to run his ranch. Entirely too few! There is also Sheriff Joe Keen(J. Carrol Nash) to help with either side. This situation is made more complex by the fact that the Hatchet ranch has traditionally used several stretches of public open range, as well as its deeded land to graze its cattle. It's these open range regions that the others want to fence in as their own. When Hatchet owner John rounds up the cattle of the other ranchers, Ray Cavanaugh shoots him in the back. Will's assocation with Sam is complicated by the fact that Celia is Sam's girlfriend, while Lottie Priest is Will's girlfriend. These associations will change before the end of the film.. My least favorite aspect of the film is the finale shootout between Sam and Will plus Celia. It was done in near total darkness, and you had to guess the outcome from what Will and Celia said at the end.....I note that a blizzard on the plains in 1888 is most remembered, whereas the scripted date is 1892...Brian Donlevy and Forrest Tucker are two charismatic mostly supporting actors who often played villains. Chill Wills, as Ike, was a recognizable supporting actor in many westerns, over a long timespan. He also was the voice of Francis, in the movie series "Francis the talking Mule" J. Carrol Nash, who played the Sheriff, was a 'black' Irishman. He was a longstanding supporting actor, often portraying swarthy ethnics, who were often villains. However, he sometimes added humor......Barbara Britton, who played Lottie, was in the occasional western, sometimes, as in this film and "Albuquerque", she was the 'bad' girl. But, she was most famous as 'the Revlon girl'......Ella Raines(Celia) was in a few westerns. I most remember her as the dangerous wild cat in the John Wayne western "Tall in the Saddle". The present film was about the end of her Hollywood time, as she switched to TV series......Enjoy this unduly forgotten western at YouTube.

"Ride the Man Down" was one of Republic Pictures "A" prestige westerns of the period in Trucolor of course. It has a larger than normal cast of familiar faces.Big time cattle rancher Phil Evarts (Stanley Andrews) perishes in a winter snow storm leaving his ranch, Hatchet to his brother John (James Bell) and his daughter Celia (Ella Raines). Foreman Will Ballard (Rod Cameron) tries to keep the ranch together. You see, the ranch is composed of several pockets of free grazing land that neighboring ranchers covet .Rival ranchers Bide Marriner (Brian Donlevy), Sam Danfelser (Forrest Tucker), Harv Garrison (Douglas Kennedy), Ray Cavanaugh (Paul Fix) and Kennedy (Jack LaRue) plan to move onto Hatchet land with their cattle. Danfelser is engaged to Celia Everts while Ballard is romancing Lottie Priest (Barbara Britton) daughter of storekeeper Lowell Priest (Taylor Holmes). Sheriff Joe Keen (J. Carroll Naish appears to be sitting on the fence between the two sides. John Evarts is murdered and the ranch falls to Celia. Sam Danfelser hopes that now he will be able to control Hatchet.Saloon owner Red Courteen (Jim Davis) also has an interest. He convinces Priest to invest in Garrison's herd. Ballard meanwhile continues his efforts to save Hatchet with only crusty old Ike Adams (Chill Wills), the ranch cook Chris (Chris Pin Martin) and two young rawhiders Mel and Jim Young (Al Caudebec, Royden Clark) to help him.Danfelser becomes jealous of Ballard and sides with the other ranchers led by Marriner. Ballard meanwhile, has shifted his attentions from Lottie to Celia. The other ranchers pursue Ballard forcing him to hide out. Finally there is a showdown between Ballard and Danfelser and.........................................................................Competently directed by Republic's in house director Joe Kane, the film has plenty of action and excellent performances from the principles. Donlevy is given top billing over Cameron probably because of his name value. Also in the large cast are western regulars Roy Barcroft, Harry Woods Marshall Reed, Harry Cheshire and Claire Carleton.

For a B western Ride The Man Down packs a lot of plot in its 90+ minute running time. It's a range war western, but it's complicated by the fact that several of the characters are really working their own agendas. It opens with the death during a blizzard of the death of a man who owned a large cattle spread.He must have been a most strong and charismatic man holding his range together where boundaries apparently are not fixed things. His daughter and heir Ella Raines has lost a lot of her hands and relies now on foreman Rod Cameron to protect her interests. Cameron himself has ridden roughshod in the past over a lot of people to keep that land for his late employer.Cameron's chief antagonist is Brian Donlevy, but Cameron has a lot of other enemies that only now are coming out because they think the local Ponderosa can't defend its interests any longer.Besides those mentioned Ride The Man Down as an impressive cast list of familiar players like Forrest Tucker, Barbara Britton, Chill Wills, Taylor Holmes, Paul Fix, Roy Barcroft, Jim Davis, J. Carrol Naish, and Douglas Kennedy. All perform with the usual professional polish you would expect from this group. They all look western comfortable in their parts. Most have been in lots of westerns before others can adapt anywhere.Ride The Man Down is a most adult western for a studio that churned out horse operas by the dozens every week for its Saturday afternoon kids. They watched their cowboys on television now and Republic now did its westerns for their parents. This one pretty good.

Ride the Man Down lasts 90 minutes but so much happens that probably 30 minutes more were needed. The story is about a huge ranch that when the owner dies in a blizzard, becomes prey to a lot of other cattlemen, since the laws about the property of land in that region were not very precise. Rod Cameron is Will Ballard, the man who tries to keep the ranch together. Ella Raines is Celia, the woman who will inherit the ranch and who is engaged to Forrest Tucker (Sam), a man that from the start you can see is no good. No good either is the father of Lottie (Barbara Britton) who is Cameron's fiancée. Bide Marriner (Brian Donlevy) and Red Courteen (Jim Davis) are the most significant candidates to invade the ranch. The real trouble starts when Ray Cavanaugh (Paul Fix) kills John Evarts (James Bell) who was managing the ranch shooting him on his back. As there is non stop action in this western, it keeps you interested, my only criticism would be for the final shootout that takes place at night in the dark. Shootouts in the dark might lower the film's budget but they take away what could be one of the best moments. Anyhow, I really enjoyed this film.