Tonight's Movie: Man in the Saddle (1951)

I first saw MAN IN THE SADDLE (1951) in this blog's earliest days, way back in 2006.

I liked it well enough, but returning to the film after 16 (!) years it was a completely different viewing experience, and I thought I would follow up on my original review in more detail this time around.

As MAN IN THE SADDLE begins, the viewer is dropped right into the middle of considerable drama: Laurie (Joan Leslie) loves rancher Owen (Randolph Scott) but is about to marry wealthy Will (Alexander Knox). Laurie comes from a poor background and is placing security over love with an "in name only" marital agreement. At the wedding reception she promptly banishes her father (Don Beddoe) from her life as part of her fresh start.

The wedding triggers tension between Owen and Will, with Will wanting Owen gone, and a brawling range war takes place over several days, leading to death and destruction. A variety of local people are involved, including Will's hired gunman Fay (Richard Rober); Nan, a neighbor who carries a torch for Owen; Hugh (John Russell), a "stalker-ish" rancher who obsessively loves Nan; and the Virk brothers (Cameron Mitchell and Richard Crane), who work for Owen.

The plot is simultaneously simple and complex: Simple in that it's your standard range war story, with lots of back-and-forth gun battles and horse chases, and complex in that there's a big canvas with many characters and motivations.

Kenneth Gamet's screenplay was based on a novel by Ernest Haycox (STAGECOACH); Jeff Arnold's West does a great job breaking down the comparisons between page and screen. The film is stuffed with more story and people than the average Western, and it actually could have stood to add a few more scenes to its 87 minutes to help flesh out the characters and relationships. That said, what's onscreen is quite good.

Over the years I've come to know the work of all the actors in this film on a much more detailed level, which added to the richness of this latest viewing experience. As I watched I reflected that I would have loved to watch a movie entirely centered on Joan Leslie's character, who continually reveals interesting personal insights; the scene in which she reverts to being the horseback riding, shooting "Bidwell girl" is fascinating. Her Laurie could have been a villainess but she's much more complicated than that; there's so much hinted at about Laurie's background and motivations, and I would have loved the time to explore her in greater depth.

Nan is likewise an interesting woman; she quietly loves Owen while also embracing an independent life as a rancher in a world mostly run by men. Nan shows her bravery during a climactic battle with Hugh; it's Nan who looks for ways to end it, whether it's distracting Hugh or digging a gun out of some rubble.

The rest of the cast is excellent, with Russell a standout as the rather pathetic Hugh. One could almost say he's an excess character who could have been edited out to focus on the other characters, but his storyline adds depth. The way Hugh is treated by Will near movie's end is absolutely shocking, incidentally.

The fine cast even includes Tennessee Ernie Ford as a ranchhand who beautifully sings the title song around the campfire. (Speaking of the campfire: One of the movie's only real drawbacks is "day for night" shooting which gives some scenes a murky quality.) The supporting cast also includes Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Frank Sully, Clem Bevans, and Alfonso Bedoya.

Perhaps the best thing for me about returning to the movie at this juncture was now knowing the locations so well. The movie was filmed all over Lone Pine, from the Alabama Hills to the Hoppy Cabin (seen here) to the cliffs I recently wrote about in my review of BETWEEN MEN (1935).

I've also come to know Iverson Ranch well enough to recognize that some campsite scenes were filmed there, rather than Lone Pine.

I'm a bit mystified as to where the snowy exteriors seen near the end of the film were shot and would love to know more. It might have been up Whitney Portal Road close to the Mount Whitney trailhead, or it could have been further up Highway 395, perhaps around Mammoth Lakes. If anyone has any information on that I'd be most interested.

The location of Will's ranch was also a mystery to me; IMDb references a French Ranch in Thousand Oaks I'm not familiar with, so perhaps it was there.

MAN IN THE SADDLE was directed by Andre De Toth (RAMROD) and filmed by Charles Lawton Jr.

Last time I saw the movie it was on VHS, so it was nice to see it on an attractive DVD this time around. It's had several different DVD releases, easily located at all the usual online shops.

For more on this film, please check out reviews at Riding the High Country and Vienna's Classic Hollywood.

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