WHEN YOU COMIN' BACK, RED RYDER? (GETTIN' EVEN)

US, 1979, 91 minutes, Colour.
Candy Clark, Marjoe Gortner, Stephanie Faricy, Dixie Ross, Lee Grant, Hal Linden, Peter Firth, Anne Ramsay.
Directed by Milton Katselas.

When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder? is based on a play, a kind of Petrified Forest of the '70s, set in New Mexico, 1968 with its atmosphere (rights, rebellion, Vietnam, Bonnie and Clyde, drugs); it is a contrived, interesting plunge into U.S. hatred, vengeance and myth. Very well acted by a cast led by Marjoe Gortner and including Lee Grant, Peter Firth, Pat Hingle, Candy Clark and Stephanie Faricy. Ex- Vietnam veteran, easy rider Gortner subjects a group at a diner to Virginia Woolf-type truth games that articulate (vigorously and viciously) a critique of America and yet a vindication of basic human rights and dignities. Violent, provocative and stimulating, sometimes pretentious, but always interesting.

1. The overall impact of the film? How could it be described? Conventions, genre? The kind of response it was asking from its audience? How successfully?

2. The significance of the title, its cowboy and U.S. mythic overtones? Its use within the film? The alternate title, Gettin' Even - who gets even, with whom?

3. The contribution of the New Mexico locations, the use of scenic exteriors, the reliance on interiors? The vivid presentation of landscapes, of places? How well were they used for the dramatics? The contribution of the score, its echo of the '60s, of the 170s? The use of the songs and the quotations for dramatic situations, revelation of character, themes? The electronic background? The use of such music as 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly', 'Kiss Goodbye'?

4. Was it evident the film was based on a play? The presentation of situations, the use of stage locations, the amount of dialogue used, the interaction of the dialogue? Characters drawn for the stage presented on the screen? The climaxes? The division into acts? The use of symbols?

5. How well did the film use realism? The use of conventions to counterpoint the realism? The background of drugs, robbery, violence, the middle-aged couple travelling, the small American town and its cross-section of people, the building up of the tensions, the interrelation of the characters? The movement towards violent climax?

6. How obtrusive were the conventions and the contrived screenplay techniques: the various patterns of the characters and their interactions, the pattern of the days, the mods, getting the group together in the diner, the symbolic actions and the humiliations inflicted, the echoes of the various film genres - especially the petrified forest with the ordinary people and the gangsters and siege, the use of cowboy myths as seen in the light of the '60s and '70s? The music as symbol?

7. The film as a piece of Americana - a pessimistic interpretation of the '605? The hindsight of the '70s? The significance of the 1968 setting? American society at the time? Young people and their rebellion? Rights? The background of drug-trafficking - the echoes of Easy Rider? Middle Americans and their wealth, class, culture, art? The background of the war and American involvement and confusion? The change to a more permissive America? The violence of the '60s moving into the '70s? The ugly Americans? An America that asked to be destroyed? Did it have to be destroyed so violently and with such humiliation? How much of the screenplay echoes the hindsight of the '70s?

8. The western setting and the overtone of cowboy films, the westerns, cowboy myths? The basic situations? The myth of the American cowboy hero, the particular roles of men and women in the west, the ironic comments made on the western man, the mock imitations, the reference, the exploding of myths? The theme of revenge of the 19th. century West transferred into the 20th. century? The acclamation of revenge and feeling good?

9. The central character portrayed by Marjoe Gortner? His appearance, initial impact, his relationship with Cheryl, the washing sequence at the beginning, the encounter with the hippies, the dropout way of life, echoes of youth, permissiveness, attitudes towards the war, having guns? Working on the border, Mexicans and drugs? The violent clash? The indications of reasons for revenge because of the drugs? Pushing into the town, taking it over. the use of the diner with the echoes of The Petrified Forest? The silver bullet and its symbolism? The build-up of expectations of this character - hero or villain, avenging angel?

10. The film's focus on the diner: the various characters and their arrival.. their interaction in the ordinary eating and talk at the diner, the relationships, build-up of cruelty,, tests, hostilities? The overtones of sexuality and violence,, deception? The importance of the decisions each of the characters had to make? The final humiliation with their being tied up? The quality of the screenplay -especially the dialogue, its literacy, tendency to verbosity, overtones of pretension? Symbolic dialogue for the themes?

11. The picture of Cheryl - her relationship with the hero villain, her helping him, her fears, her place at the cafe. her behaviour, embarrassment? Why did she help him? The overtones of the owner of the diner, talking with him when the motor was being changed, her helping with the tying up of the guests, her decision to stay. the hopes for a job? Her participation in the way of life of the hero villain, her change of heart, revulsion?

12. The title's focus on Red Ryder? As potential hero? The counterbalance to the hero villain? An ordinary American young man of the West, his work, his hair., talk.. lounging about. his bowling ability? Angel and her devotion to him? His attitudes towards his mother and living with her? The car and his dreams? Surly., Ignorant? Self-assertive and then challenged by someone who knew more? His being humiliated - imitating the cowboy, as regards sexuality, being tied up? The effect of the humiliation on him, his rising to the myths of the cowboy and the West, the importance of the chase of the hero villain, the slow motion attack, the gun and the killing, his becoming a hero? His going off with Angel into the future? How stylistic a presentation of the character, how realistic? The blend of realism and symbolism? Audience interest in the character, identification with him - especially at the end?

13. How convincing was the portrait of Angel? Her work, a nice girl, a fat girl? Her comments on the speciality of the house? Her love for Red? Her mother and her treatment of her., grandmother? Her being kind to people and her being humiliated? Her relationship with the owner of the diner and her resisting him? Her being humiliated as regards her personality. her size. sexuality? The violent reaction that it elicited? Audience sympathy with her? Her future going off with Red at the end?

14. Audience identification with the married couple? The way the film introduced them, their bonds, their clashes, their travelling, their artistic and business back ground? Wealth? The attitude towards children? The staying at the motel, their relationship, sexuality, exercise? The ordinariness of their eating before they left and the intrusion of the hero villain? The breakfast changing to menace? The importance of the violin and its potential destruction? A symbol of Clarisse? Her husband and his support of her, his being humiliated - especially with the car keys and the clash? His suave manner and yet his weakness? Changing to anger, the possibility of killing the hero villain? The clash with Clarisse, her spurning of him? His being hurt? What future would they have together after this testing experience?

15. The portrait of Clarisse, her anxiety, artistic background, the violin? Her being hurt? Her courage compared with that of her husband? Her compassion for Angel? The ultimate violent challenge to the hero villain and her losing her fear? The desperation of middle America when taunted by such hero villains? Where did right lie?

16. The owner of the motel and his loneliness, pleasant personality. being a cripple, wanting to help? His attraction towards the women - proposal to Angel, proposal to Cheryl? His not being able to cope with the situation? His work on the engine? His bewilderment and hurt?

17. How well did the film sketch in minor characters as background to the main characters and the themes - the cafe, the boss and his flirting with Red's mother, the mother and her lovers, the night with the boss, her wanting to move on, the atmosphere of the cafe? An authentic background to the town, setting its tone and style?

18. The melodramatics of the shooting and the change to the revival meeting, Angel's mother and her presence there, the themes of religion, the people present, the healing ceremony? The impact of this sequence in itself? Its relevance to the rest of the film?

19. The film's moving to the outside as the hero villain left, the road, the picnic people, the desperate chase, the sand hills, the killing? Did the hero villain have a death wish and intend to be killed? Was it inevitable? Where did Red get the strength and courage for violence?

20. The importance of the ending as indication of America into the '70s? Red and Angel making a future?

21. How satisfying an exploration of contemporary values? The range of characters explored, the contrived interaction for testing and truth? Moving below the surfaces of ordinary behaviour and complacency? Representations of particular aspects of American society in the '60s and '70s? How universal was the application of this exploration of values?