Ride Lonesome

A lot of the fun of Randolph Scott movies is seeing what actors you recognize who will go on to larger roles in later films. While I was at my dad's, we watched another one, The Desperadoes, that had a young Glenn Ford as the co-star (who not only manages to steal Scott's horse, but beats him in a fistfight, and ends up marrying the girl at the end.)

With Ride Lonesome, we have Pernell Roberts (most well-known for his role on Bonanza) and James Coburn as a pair of criminals Scott encounters while bringing one member of a fugitive game back to Santa Cruz with him. Roberts and Coburn aren't welcome in Santa Cruz because of past indiscretions, but they have heard that if someone brings in this gang they receive amnesty. There's a repeated gag where none of these guys (other than Scott) had heard of the word before or knew what it meant.

Will Randolph Scott let them have the gang member so they can get that reward? Are they willing to bank on his goodwill? And, once they realize he's deliberately taking his time because he wants the leader of the gang (played by Lee van Cleef) to catch up, what are they going do?

The plot is one that is fairly common in Randolph Scott movies. Where he's a bounty hunter because he lost his wife to a vengeful criminal in the past. Plus we have the group of morally ambiguous guys that are temporarily on his side, and the lady who runs a stagecoach depot station that thinks poorly of Scott until she learns about his past. I think the last time I saw it, Lee Marvin was in there as one of the morally ambiguous guys, who tried to challenge Scott at the end and couldn't even get his guns out of their holsters before Scott shot him.

So it's standard fare for Randolph Scott, not one of his better movies, not one his worst. Just something to watch to pass the time, or for background noise.