Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966)

chuck's best movie

A very entertaining movie unlike any western you'll ever see. Chuck Connors is great as usual and almost everyone in this has their talents fully exploited with claude akins, bill bixby, and frank gorshin making the most of their screentime. Full of action, drama and a wicked sense of humor(just under the surface), almost every scene is a classic for one reason or another. Chuck really does get "branded" this time by an always inebriated Akins, michael rennie, and a sadistic bill bixby, after which he discovers his money gone and heads to town looking for his old flame and the three guys. Kathryn Hays is tough and does a great job as chuck's wife whom he deserted years back to pursue his fortune. Although this is a violent movie, there is no blood. Besides the rifleman this is Chuck Connors best role. DVD anamorphic WS picure is great, mono audio also good. May 28, 2008

Chuck Connors very good job with this.

A few twist and different western overall. Nice surprise to see Bixby play a sour apple. Great for true western fans. The longest bar fight seen I've evern seen. March 3, 2006

"I just rode up from hell with my hair on fire."

Through the 1960s, the American western genre, overall, was in decline, suffering mainly from low production values and a lack of originality as hackneyed plots and themes were recycled ad nauseum, as illustrated in this film titled Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966), the result of those mainly involved in television productions trying to make a feature length movie. Actually, many believe the American western achieved near perfection with such films as High Noon (1952) and/or The Searchers (1956)...that's not to say there weren't any good westerns after this murky period, but what followed tended to fall into the category known as `revisionist' western, stories where the line between good and bad wasn't entirely clear, spurred on by the popularity of the `spaghetti' westerns coming out of Italy, most notably The Good, the Bad, the Ugly (1966). Written and produced by Andrew J. Fenady (Chisum, Terror in the Wax Museum), and directed by Bernard McEveety, veteran television director of such series as "The Virginian", "The Wild Wild West", "The Waltons", and "The Incredible Hulk", to name a few, the film stars Chuck Connors, former baseball player turned actor, probably best known for his roles in television's "The Rifleman" and films like Old Yeller (1957) and The Big Country (1958). Also appearing is Michael Rennie (The Day the Earth Stood Still), Kathryn Hays (Ladybug Ladybug), Joan Blondell (Nightmare Alley), Bill Bixby ("The Incredible Hulk"), Frank Gorshin ("Batman"), James MacArthur (Swiss Family Robinson), Marissa Mathes (Blood Bath), Arthur O'Connell (Operation Petticoat), and Claude Akins (The Defiant Ones).

The film opens in the present day, as we see a census taker (MacArthur) touring a small Texas town called Coldiron, all while some goofy song talking about how you `can't ever go home again' warbles in the background. Seems every town has a story, and Coldiron's no different, as the census taker settles in the local watering hole to hear all about how Jonas Trap (Connors), also known as `el tigre', initiated `the night of the reprisals' some number of years ago, taking us into our initial flashback. Seems Jonas Trap, buffalo hunter by trade, has been away for some eleven years, and is finally returning home to his wife Jessie (Hays) with a wad of dough ($17,000, to be exact), and gets beaten severely by a trio of men mistaking him for a cattle rustler. Not only that, but one of them also stole his money...which takes us into another flashback, where we see how Jonas, a humble dirt farmer, wooed Jessie, a woman from a well to do family, eventually marrying her. Jonas, not inclined to subsist off his wife's wealth tries desperately to get work (there's nothing in town but odd jobs), decides on going off to hunt buffalo, but Jessie can't/won't leave as her aunt it sick, and Jessie has little desire to meek out a surely squalor filled life on the open range. Returning to our initial flashback, Jonas, who barely survived the attack, now rides into town seeking revenge (along with his dough) on those who done him wrong.

Overall I didn't care much for this film as it felt like an overblown, overwrought television feature with lack luster production values, a muddled, plot, hammy performances, and featured some of the most unnatural dialog I've heard in a long time. Here's an example, as issued by the narrator while we see a tired and weary Jonas returning home after an eleven year absence..."He was juiced-out by the sun and gut lonesome for his wife." I got the meaning well enough, but it just sounded so odd, as does a lot of the dialog, written in much the same way. I was willing to buy off on this for the narration, but when the characters started spewing forth this histrionic and stagy junk, I lost all hope for an entertaining and engaging feature. I'm unsure any actor could have performed the lines in this film and made them sound realistic. It just sounded like someone writing a western that hadn't quite got the hang of it, throwing in a bunch of colorful euphemisms that looked good on paper, but ultimately failed during execution. Also, the film tended to put too much focus on unnecessary aspects of the story, while slighting the parts one would normally expect to be highlighted. I had a hard time understanding Connors' character, and honestly, I really didn't like him. After a difference of opinion with his new wife, he up and ditches her for eleven years, without so much as a howdy do? What the hell was that? Not only that, but then he returns after a long absence, with a saddlebag full of money, expecting to be able to pick up where they left off...only thing is she's since moved on and is engaged to a wealthy banker, but it's not about the money...yeah, sure it isn't. By the way, I loved how the passage of time was marked in Jessie by a cheap and obviously fake looking gray streak in her hair. Upon returning to town, Jonas steals a bottle of whiskey, beats a saloon bouncer within an inch of his life (the guy was only trying to collect the money owed for the whiskey), and trashes the local saloon a couple of times in barroom brawls, yet nothing is done as apparently the law is fairly lenient in Coldiron. As far as the other characters, we have Bixby playing a sleazy, duded up dandy of a hustler named Johnsy Boy Hood, with a penchant for the over dramatics, Akins as Elwood Coates, a miserable, sadistic drunkard with bad teeth who talks to an imaginary friend named `Whisky Man', Rennie as a bad guy banker character named Brooks (who's barely even there), who's actually a good guy (these were the three involved in the thrashing Jonas received early on), and finally Hays as the overwrought Jessie, torn between Jonas and Brooks, her financially secure fiancé. Probably the most annoying thing about this movie was the fact it had such a strong, capable, and experienced cast, but failed completely to utilize it, offering up ridiculously cliché, transparent characterizations. As far as the sets, the film was obviously shot on a low rent, well-worn, tired looking back lot, one probably used in any number of television productions. Also, the film, with a running time of 101 minutes, drags on about fifteen to twenty minutes longer than it should have, cluttered with pointless sequences (that whole census taker business at the beginning and end had no, real value), along with goofy plot devices (a flashback within a flashback?). With so many better westerns out there, I'd be hard pressed to recommend this dud to anyone. Had the story been played more straightforward, and the writer and director (both of whom probably should have stuck to a medium they were more suited to, that being television) tried to get less cutesy with the material, I probably would have liked it better...sure, I might have commented on the fact that it offered nothing new, but I would have enjoyed it more. One bright spot, it did have a pretty spectacular fight sequence between Connors and Akins near the end.

The picture, presented in widescreen anamorphic (1.85:1) looks very good, and the audio comes through well. There really aren't any extras, other than some previews for other Columbia Tristar releases like Glory (1989), Major Dundee (1965), Silverado (1985), The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), and The Professionals (1966).

Cookieman108
January 30, 2006

Not Your Run-Of-The-Mill Western,

"Ride Beyond Vengeance" is more than a typical western. Although produced on a low budget by television producers Mark Goodson And Bill Toddman ("The Price is Right") and featuring several names mostly familiar to TV audiences, it has a dynamic, if pessimistic script more concerned with character development than standard action--not that the film lacks action or violence.

Cowboy Jonas Trapp (Chuck Connors of "Rifleman" fame) falls in love with the beautiful Jessie (Kathryn Hays), very appealing in her first film, a wealthy girl out of his humble class. Against the wishes of her snobbish aunt (Ruth Warrick), she marries him, later faking a pregnancy to win her aunt's consent. But Jonas tires of living off of his wife's family, and eventually deserts her to become a buffalo hunter. 11 years later, with his self-made fortune, he sets out to return home, only to be set upon by three sadistic marauders, Michael Rennie, Bill Bixby and Claude Akins, who steal his money and leave him for dead. Rescued by a farmer (Paul Fix, Connors' "Rifleman" co-star) who nurses him back to health, Jonas becomes consumed by the desire for revenge. As fate would have it, all three men live close to Jonas' former home. Matters quickly get worse when Jonas reunites with his wife, only to discover that she is now engaged to Rennie.

Made on a three week schedule on an obvious sound-stage, "Ride Beyond Vengeance" succeeds in transcending it's shortcomings by the powerful acting of a first-rate cast. Connors gives his best performance, and he is well (if briefly) supported by Joan Blondell (as a gossipy townswoman), Gloria Grahame (a cheating wife having an affair with Bixby), Gary Merrill as Jonas' foster father, Frank Gorshin as an arrogant ranch hand, and Buddy Baer as a town bully. Buried way down the cast list is young starlet Marrisa Mathes, who is sympathetic and real as the grieving girlfriend of Bixby who reaches out to Jonas. But, next to Connors, the film belongs to Bixby, as a sadomasochistic dandy. James MaCarthur and Arthur O'Connell appear in a present day prologue to set the scene and narrate the story. The screenplay is based on Al Dewlen's novel, "The Night of the Tiger" and spends considerable time fleshing out the characters. Of course, violence rears it's ugly head here and there, but not so much as to put off the viewer. (It did, however, put off critics when it was released back in 1966) but it went on to garner a massive audience when it had its television premiere. Today, it seems better than it was initially given credit for, and remains well worth seeing. A widescreen DVD release is due out in December. It's about time! [phillindholm] December 17, 2005

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