Ride in the Whirlwind (1966)
Directed by: Monte
Hellman.
Written by: Jack
Nicholson.
Starring: Cameron Mitchell (Vern), Millie
Perkins (Abigail), Jack Nicholson (Wes), Katherine Squire (Catherine), George
Mitchell (Evan), Rupert Crosse (Indian Joe), Harry Dean Stanton (Blind Dick), John
Hackett (Winslow), Tom Filer (Otis), B.J. Merholz (Edgar), Brandon Carroll (Quint
Mapes), Peter Cannon (Hagerman), William A. Keller (Roy), Neil Summers (Ward), Bill
Keller (Roy).
Monte
Hellman shot Ride in the Whirlwind back to back with the shooting in the Utah
desert in 1965 – with some of the same cast – and ended up producing two
Westerns with the same kind of existential dread to them. Ride in the Whirlwind
is not quite the film The Shooting is (that probably has some to do with the
writers) – as The Shooting builds to some sort of strange, surreal climax that
cannot be clearly explained. By contrast, Ride in the Whirlwind is a simpler
story in many ways – full of dialogue that sounds like it was stolen from dime
store Western novels, and a plot to match. And yet, that same weight is coming
down on these characters – they are not getting away free.
Ride in
the Whirlwind is about three cowboys on their way to Waco, Texas when they
happen across a group of bandits hiding out in an isolated ranch house. We know
they’re bandits because of the opening scene – where we see the group (led by
Harry Dean Stanton) robbing the stagecoach – and the cowboys size them properly
right away as well. Both groups of men figure that if they just stay out of
each other’s way however, they can get through the night, and just go on their
way – all the while pretending they don’t know what is really going on. It’s a
plan that pretty much works – except for the fact that a rogue vigilante posse
descends on the house early the next morning – and pretty soon, there is a lot
of shooting going on. The cowboys cannot very well try and say they aren’t
members of the game – even though it’s true – because who would believe them?
Two of them – Vern (Cameron Mitchell) and Wes (Jack Nicholson) are able to
escape – but the posse is behind them, and aren’t going to give up.
The
screenplay was written by Nicholson himself – and it’s a fairly spare, basic
setup. Not as spare as The Shooting – which is basically just four characters –
but spare just the same. This time, he’s basically got four different groups –
the innocent cowboys who are caught in a situation, the bandits who are
responsible for them being there, the vigilante posse out to catch the bandits,
and in the last act, a family unit that Wes and Vern have to take hostage in an
effort to get out alive. Like The Shooting though, this is a Western devoid of
things that populate other Westerns – there are no Sheriffs around, no real
towns, no commerce, no regular people going about their lives. And everyone in
the film is equally doomed. So much so that you could almost feel like this
isn’t a Western as much as post-apocalyptic movie – there is no signs of
civilization anywhere.
Compared
to The Shooting, Ride in the Whirlwind clearly isn’t quite as good. That film is
a mini masterpiece – a surreal, existential Western, that foretold much of what
was come later in the genre, even if it’s hard to argue it influenced it
because no one really saw it. This is a more standard – bare bones affair – but
an effective one. It’s especially good both early and late – in the scenes
involving the cowboys and the bandits, and later, the cowboys and the family –
that show how things have been turned on their head. A sequence with the sound
of chopping wood coming through the walls and driving Nicholson crazy is
particularly effective.
So no,
Ride in the Whirlwind is not quite The Shooting – but it’s cut from the same
cloth, and is an effective, minimalist Western from Hellman and company. And
while it’s not quite the top of his game – it’s close enough to make it a
fascinating companion piece to a masterpiece.
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