TALL MAN RIDING
US, 1955, 89 minutes, Colour.
Randolph Scott, Dorothy Malone, Peggie Castle, William Ching, John Dehner,
Directed by Lesley Selander.
Tall Man Riding is one of the many Randolph Scott westerns of the 1950s. While the material is familiar, it is presented with quite some energy. Scott is his familiar character, somewhat hard this time, bent on a revenge. His target is a landowner who had humiliated him, whipped him, prevented him from marrying his daughter. The daughter has married, her husband his killed, Scott has a sense right, a complicated response because of his love for Corinna (Dorothy Malone). In the town, he is helped by the saloon girl, Reva (Peggy Castle). The villain is the owner of the saloon, who employs his own gunslinger. There is also a crooked his lawyer (John Dehner). The film is directed by Lesley Selander, a director of many westerns for cinema and for television. The shootout in the dark is imaginatively filmed, the only light on Scott’s eyes.
1. An entertaining western of the 1950s? Popular ingredients? A Randolph Scott western?
2. The colour photography, the picture of the west, the homesteads and ranches, the town? The musical score? Reva, her song?
3. The opening, Larry Madden, seeing Willard being pursued? Madden helping him? Discovering the truth?
4. Madden’s history? Dealings with Ordway? The whipping? Ordway forbidding Corinna from marrying Madden? Madden and his five year absence? His returning for vengeance? Employing the lawyer, the documentation from Washington? His waiting to use it?
5. Pearlo, past association with Madden, running the saloon, past history with Ordway? His relationship with Reva? The Peso Kid? Owning the sheriff? The initial clash with Madden?
6. Madden, the lawyer, the meetings, the plans, Pearlo’s offer to the lawyer, the lawyer and the marshal from Washington, publication of the land decisions, Madden rejecting his offer, information
to Pearlo, the land rush, Pearlo and the lawyer at the ranch, the shootout?
7. Reva, saloon girl, her dignity, her riding, friendship with Corinna? Interactions with Madden? Her helping Madden, shooting at the Peso Kid, the tension with Pearlo? Her plan to listen to the lawyer, the confrontation with the kid? His shooting her? In the hospital, Madden’s visit?
8. Corinna, devotion to her father, attitude towards Madden? Resentment? Her marrying Rex? Explanations to Madden? Her husband’s arrest, his being a man of principle? The farce of the inquest? His being transferred, the sheriff, the gun, the peso kid pursuing, the sheriff killing Rex? Corinna blaming Madden? With the body in the town? Her friendship with Reva?
9. Ordway, his men, his reputation, disliked in the town? Owning the land, truth about not registering the land? The build up to the confrontation? Madden discovering Ordway was blind? The plan for the fight in the hut? The morning, the darkness, the fact that Ordway was almost blind, the tension with the guns, the focus on Madden, his eyes, shots, Ordway and being shot?
10. The proclamation of the decree, the preparation for the land rush, Corinna challenging Madden, then moving into the town? The lineup for the rush, the visualising of the rush, Corinna falling from the wagon, the rescue?
11. Ordway’s apology, invitation, Madden accepting, the happy ending?
12. Popular ingredients, well presented?
