Rawhide (1951)

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Writer:

Dudley Nichols (writer)

Release Date:

25 March 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Not a Rowdy Yates in sight in this western set in a stop over for the California to St Louis mail stagecoach run...

Plot Keywords:

Hijacker | Escaped Convict | Prison | Gritty | Gold

Cast

Tyrone Power	...	Tom Owens
Susan Hayward	...	Vinnie Holt
Hugh Marlowe	...	Zimmerman / Deputy sheriff Ben Miles
Dean Jagger	...	Yancy
Edgar Buchanan	...	Sam Todd (Rawhide stationmaster)
Jack Elam	...	Tevis
George Tobias	...	Gratz
Jeff Corey	...	Luke Davis
James Millican	...	Tex Squires
Louis Jean Heydt	...	Fickert ('New York Herald')
William Haade	...	Gil Scott (stagecoach driver)
Milton R. Corey Sr.	...	Dr. Tucker
Kenneth Tobey	...	Lt. Wingate (as Ken Tobey)
Dan White	...	Gilchrist
Max Terhune	...	Miner

Also Known As:

Desperate Siege (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

89 min | 87 min (FMC Library Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:(Banned) (1951-1963) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Spain:7 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Quotes:

Zimmerman: Tevis has no respect for the dead.
Vinnie Holt: And he just loves the living?

Movie Connections:

Remake of Show Them No Mercy! (1935)

Desperate, raw emotions added to remote, isolated setting

Yes, I think "Rawhide" is a highly charged western and if I were any younger I'd be working through two boxes of popcorn while lost in this movie! It keeps you on the edge of your seat as you watch several outlaws take over the depot, all set for a robbery, and lie in wait for the coach to arrive. Also the fact is, when you combine two intense stars like Ty and Susan you're bound to get a compelling screen presence since both are always fascinating to watch. They carry the drama steadily along.

Later on in the film however, there seems a shortage of dialogue and the story tends to get bogged down in a constant gloomy atmosphere of quiet desperation.

One certainly feels the weight of isolation in this remote station along the stagecoach line in a time where lawlessness still needed to be subdued. It makes one realize how rough it must have been to live in those days of homesteading in the West.

As usual, Elam is the baddy in here and he never fails to rouse my dislike although in later life he went in for comedy in a western or two, a nice change. Hugh Marlowe is also a familiar face -- of "All About Eve" fame. On the whole it's a riveting western to the end.