Ride Clear of Diablo (1954)

I was at my dad's over the weekend, and one channel was doing an Audie Murphy marathon on Veteran's Day, so here we are. This time around, Murphy plays Clay O'Mara, a railroad surveyor who returns home after his father and brother are murdered by cattle rustlers. He wants to find the killers and "speak" with them, and takes a job as a deputy to have some authority.

His father's lawyer spoke up for him with the sheriff, but the lawyer and the sheriff are the ones responsible. So the sheriff keeps sending him on tasks or leads that are supposed to get him killed, only to be flummoxed when Clay returns. Along the way, he falls for the sheriff's niece (played by Susan Cabot), and there's a perfunctory romance there. You would think the inevitable reveal her uncle was a killer and a crook would hit a little harder, but not really.

But the real interpersonal relationship is between Clay and notable local ne'er-do-well Whitey Kincade (Dan Duryea). The sheriff and lawyer first point Clay at Whitey as possibly knowing something, and sent Clay to serve a warrant for a different killing. Whitey doesn't think much of it, but Clay outdraws him and brings him in for trial. Now Whitey's interested.

I think Whitey's supposed to come off as a little unhinged, but watching the movie, there's a certain gay subtext to him. Mostly that everything about his character is more flamboyant than every other guy. Not wildly so, but his clothes are nicer, and brighter colors. He does everyday things, like lighting a match, with more flair than anyone else. His voice is a bit higher than I expected when he walks in, and he laughs wildly a lot.

Mostly, it's just how interested he gets in Clay. Whitey is found not guilty after the sheriff and lawyer pay another local, more small-time hood (played by the guy who played the Professor on Gilligan's Island) to provide an alibi for Whitey at his trial. You could do a whole thing on this movie, just in the weird love/hate, co-dependent relationships all the crooks have in this movie*.

After that, Whitey passes up opportunities to kill Clay, even when Clay literally hands him his loaded gun back in a place with no witnesses. When Clay shows up later looking for a stolen horse, Whitey leads him right to the culprits (the leader of which is played by Jack Elam), then covers his back until Clay gets a certain distance away. But then he lets the three guys chase after Clay and follows along to enjoy the show, but there's no hostility to it.

It's like Whitey is just really entertained by this strange young man that is fast on the draw but doesn't kill anyone, and is willing to play nice with a killer like Whitey if the law says he's innocent. Heck, Whitey even brings him a bucket of beer at one point when he thinks Clay's still recovering from being wounded retrieving the horse. It's him that tells sets in motion Cabot learning the lawyer and sheriff are crooks and killers, and he saves Clay from stepping outside into an ambush by keeping him at gunpoint and going out first. It just really feels as though Whitey fell in love with Clay.

* None of them like Whitey, and Whitey finds most of them either crushing bores or complete losers. The sheriff has just enough conscience (and more critically, even less backbone) to occasionally balk at what the lawyer pushes him to do. The lawyer in turn gets frustrated with the sheriff. Lawyer and sheriff both find the local hood to be a pain, but just useful enough of a patsy to tolerate. They all hate each other, but at different times, they all need each other just to keep their heads above water.