Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Ride the Pink Horse (1947)


Academy Awards, USA 1948

Nominee
Oscar
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Thomas Gomez

Universal Pictures
Directed by Robert Montgomery
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Criterion Collection)

Robert Montgomery directs himself as a gangster who travels to a small town in New Mexico to get revenge for the murder of his best friend. It's fiesta time, so he has trouble finding a room. He is approached by a local girl who becomes infatuated with him and helps him out the rest of the movie. Unable to find the gangster, he hangs out with his secretary/girlfriend hoping to find out his whereabouts. He gets in a fight at the local dive bar, but makes another friend in carousel operator Thomas Gomez. Meanwhile, an FBI agent is also after the gangster and tries to persuade him to stay within the law. Montgomery ignores him, and the gangster's girlfriend's suggestion for a shakedown for even more money. He finally sets up an exchange with the gangster, but it all goes wrong and he ends up stabbed and dying by the side of the road. His new friends help get him to safety. In the final confrontation with the gangster all of the various plot threads are resovled. Confusing, if atmospheric,  hybrid of noir, crime and western elements. Montgomery is quite good. 

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