Wizard-8 "Ride Beyond Vengeance" is an interesting western in part because it was made when the Production Code was almost over. Although there are a few places where you can see that the Production Code is holding things back completely, the movie all the same is surprisingly mean and violent at times. The scenes where Chuck Connors' character executes his plans for vengeance will most likely raise the eyebrows of viewers even in this day and age. However, I will admit that Connors' plan is mighty slow to unfold at times - it might have helped if Connors' character had more people on his "to kill" list to keep the movie constantly suspenseful. Still, I will admit that as slow as the movie is at times, the story never gets to the point of being boring. And the movie does end at a point that is not totally predictable, so you'll be wondering throughout how things will be wrapped up. Though I don't think this movie was trying to ape spaghetti westerns that were coming out of Europe at the time, those who like spaghetti westerns will find extra interest, because in many ways this Hollywood western plays like one.

classicsoncall I think my summary quote might have been more appropriate for Bill Bixby's character Johnsy Boy after the old rifleman came on the scene for a little payback with the branding iron. Man, wasn't that some crazed way to go out? About as good as Frank Gorshin describing the incident to his buddies at the Two Butt Saloon. It looked like Gorshin was still stuck on his Riddler character from the Batman TV series of the mid-Sixties.So I just watched two Westerns back to back that ended with unsatisfying conclusions. The other one was "Will Penny" starring Charlton Heston. I guess one could make a case for Jonas Trapp (Chuck Connors) riding off into the sunset without his wife considering what happened here, but he went to a lot of trouble for nothing. Not that the revenge angle didn't play out satisfactorily enough, but he should have figured after eleven years gone, nobody was going to hang around waiting for him to show up again.This is one of those movies where it seems like the roles were handed out by drawing names from a hat. The casting is really eclectic, with players like Connors, Bixby, Gorshin, Michael Rennie, Kathryn Hays, Joan Blondell, Gloria Grahame, Claude Akins and Paul Fix. The Western movie character actors all made sense, but the rest looked a little out of place. Even the opener was a little strange with the modern day setting resolving to a flashback to reminisce about La Noche del Tigre, the Night of the Tiger.But at least it had that great bar room brawl with Claude Akins up against Connors; that was one of the more memorable ones you'll find in a Western. It certainly felt more realistic than Connors knocking out Buddy Baer with one punch. You know, I'm still thinking about the cast list, and it brings to mind a picture made a decade later called "The Night They Took Miss Beautiful". That one had Gary Collins, Henry Gibson, Victoria Principal, and Phil Silvers, and right in the middle of it all was a guy who's name was pulled out of a hat - Chuck Connors.

Bob_Zerunkel This is a darn fine movie, but it does not have the character development that many are claiming. The town, and the movie as a whole, has many odd characters, but we don't know much about why they are odd. We simply know that they are odd. Even Bixby is not developed. He starts as a psycho. He's a psycho in the middle. And he's a psycho at the end.The character development is substantial on Connors (the good guy), Rennie (the bad guy), and Hays (the good guy's wife who is now with the bad guy). But is it good character development? Not really.Connor's character could fall in love and marry, but he wouldn't have let the Aunt influence his marriage or his wife. He certainly would have left his home and wife as he did, but he never would have let himself get into that situation in the first place.Rennie did play a guy who could turn bad, but he didn't play a stupid man. He wouldn't have let things get so far out of hand. At almost every turn, Rennie could have stopped Connors. Yet somehow, he lets things get worse and worse. Rennie's character was smart and knew how to manipulate people and situations. He could have killed Connors. He could have hired someone to do it. He could have returned the money anonymously. He could have framed anybody, living or dead, as the thief. He could have just stayed home. Even if he had just stayed home, it would have been enough. Stay home, Rennie, stay home. Let the town deal with Connors.Hays played a woman who could fall in love with Connors under the right circumstances, but the character she played would not have fallen in love unless Connors was rich and/or if Connors had the approval of her aunt. Her character was weak and could never stand on her own. At least, that is who she was early on when a weak character was necessary. Later in the movie, she became strong and hard. I guess her aunt told her to do that. At the end, she became soft and warm towards Connors. I guess her aunt must have died by then. She was at least as psycho as Bixby from what I can tell. I'm sure she spent her remaining years taking care of her houseful of cats and screaming at anyone who used her sidewalk.How come Connors was smart enough to save all that money, but he was too dumb to get a bank draft? How come Connors really hoped that he would be able to get a shave when he entered that campsite, but he was too dumb to stop anywhere along the way and buy a shave? How come Connors wanted so much to see his ex-wife, but he didn't even think about spending any of his money on a bath, a shave, and a set of clothes? Bixby and Akers went on and on about how bad Connors stunk. Are we supposed to believe that Connors thought his high-born wife wouldn't mind the smell? There are only two characters that are necessary to this movie: Connors and Akins. It would be the exact same movie if Bixby, Rennie, O'Connell, Hays, Blondell and the rest were replaced, rewritten or discarded. It is a simple story of vengeful good versus pure evil. Jimmy Stewart played that role several times. So did Eastwood, Wayne, and most of the other macho stars. First the star has something bad happen to him. Then he spends the rest of the picture trying to set things right. At the very end, good triumphs over evil. It works well because, when the whupping starts, the audience is really rooting for the good guy.So why is it a great movie? Because it is a great western with great actors. There are many fine actors in this movie, and they all do a stand-up job. It is excellent. If you like westerns or dark film noir, you will like this. It is a much better movie than Johnny Guitar.But, just like in Johnny Guitar, you can pick apart the plot and character development without even trying.

phillindholm "Ride Beyond Vengeance" is more than a typical western. Although produced on a low budget by television producers Mark Goodson And Bill Toddman ("The Price is Right") and featuring several names mostly familiar to TV audiences, it has a dynamic, if pessimistic script more concerned with character development than standard action--not that the film lacks action or violence. Cowboy Jonas Trapp (Chuck Connors of "Rifleman" fame) falls in love with the beautiful Jessie (Kathryn Hays), very appealing in her first film, a wealthy girl out of his humble class. Against the wishes of her snobbish aunt (Ruth Warrick), she marries him, later faking a pregnancy to win her aunt's consent. But Jonas tires of living off of his wife's family, and eventually deserts her to become a buffalo hunter. 11 years later, with his self-made fortune, he sets out to return home, only to be set upon by three sadistic marauders, Michael Rennie, Bill Bixby and Claude Akins, who steal his money and leave him for dead. Rescued by a farmer (Paul Fix, Connors' "Rifleman" co-star) who nurses him back to health, Jonas becomes consumed by the desire for revenge. As fate would have it, all three men live close to Jonas' former home. Matters quickly get worse when Jonas reunites with his wife, only to discover that she is now engaged to Rennie. Made on a three week schedule on an obvious sound-stage, "Ride Beyond Vengeance" succeeds in transcending it's shortcomings by the powerful acting of a first-rate cast. Connors gives his best performance, and he is well (if briefly) supported by Joan Blondell (as a gossipy townswoman), Gloria Grahame (a cheating wife having an affair with Bixby), Gary Merrill as Jonas' foster father, Frank Gorshin as an arrogant ranch hand, and Buddy Baer as a Bouncer. Buried way down the cast list is young starlet Marrisa Mathes, who is sympathetic and real as the grieving girlfriend of Bixby who reaches out to Jonas. But, next to Connors, the film belongs to Bixby, as a sadomasochistic dandy. James MaCarthur and Arthur O'Connell appear in a present day prologue to set the scene and narrate the story. The screenplay is based on Al Dewlen's novel, "The Night of the Tiger" and spends considerable time fleshing out the characters. Of course, violence rears it's ugly head here and there, but not so much as to put off the viewer. (It did, however, put off critics when it was released back in 1966) but it went on to garner a massive audience when it had its television premiere. Today, it seems better than it was initially given credit for, and remains well worth seeing. A widescreen DVD release is due out in December. It's about time!