weezeralfalfa As the few other reviewers, at this point, have said, this Trucolor full feature-length Republic western packs a lot of complexity and drama, plus a little romance into it's 90 min.. Basically, it's a version of the common plot of a range war between a big ranch and a bunch of small late comers. But, in this case, it's the cattle baron, who's being besieged by a number of squatters, who want to take advantage of the death of the former owner of the Hatchet ranch: Phil Evart. The ranch is now being run by Evart's brother John(James Bell) , and his daughter Celia(Ella Raines), who are seen by the squatters as weaker than Phil in fighting to maintain their position. However, the foreman of the ranch, Will Ballard(Rod Cameron) is determined to keep the ranch intact. Toward attaining this goal, Will has a number of prime enemies, including Ray Cavanaugh(Paul Fix) Bide Marriner, (Brian Donlevy),Red Courteen(Jim Davis), And Sam Danfulser(Forrest Tucker).Each of these will die separately, shot by Will or one of his associates. Most were trying to kill Will or his associate at that time. Apparently, Will only has his old standby Ike(Chill Wills). the cook, and 2 new young cowpokes(Mel and Jim Young) to run his ranch. Entirely too few! There is also Sheriff Joe Keen(J. Carrol Nash) to help with either side. This situation is made more complex by the fact that the Hatchet ranch has traditionally used several stretches of public open range, as well as its deeded land to graze its cattle. It's these open range regions that the others want to fence in as their own. When Hatchet owner John rounds up the cattle of the other ranchers, Ray Cavanaugh shoots him in the back. Will's assocation with Sam is complicated by the fact that Celia is Sam's girlfriend, while Lottie Priest is Will's girlfriend. These associations will change before the end of the film.. My least favorite aspect of the film is the finale shootout between Sam and Will plus Celia. It was done in near total darkness, and you had to guess the outcome from what Will and Celia said at the end.....I note that a blizzard on the plains in 1888 is most remembered, whereas the scripted date is 1892...Brian Donlevy and Forrest Tucker are two charismatic mostly supporting actors who often played villains. Chill Wills, as Ike, was a recognizable supporting actor in many westerns, over a long timespan. He also was the voice of Francis, in the movie series "Francis the talking Mule" J. Carrol Nash, who played the Sheriff, was a 'black' Irishman. He was a longstanding supporting actor, often portraying swarthy ethnics, who were often villains. However, he sometimes added humor......Barbara Britton, who played Lottie, was in the occasional western, sometimes, as in this film and "Albuquerque", she was the 'bad' girl. But, she was most famous as 'the Revlon girl'......Ella Raines(Celia) was in a few westerns. I most remember her as the dangerous wild cat in the John Wayne western "Tall in the Saddle". The present film was about the end of her Hollywood time, as she switched to TV series......Enjoy this unduly forgotten western at YouTube.

Marlburian Several offerings of this film are available on YouTube, and I'm surprised that so far there are only two reviews here on IMDB - and these sum up RTMD very well indeed.The cast includes many well-known and not so-well-known actors from 1950s Westerns, all of whom acquit themselves well.As has been suggested, there was a lot of plot crammed into 90 minutes, and the number of characters' names was such that I had to concentrate to work out who was who. And there were quite a few localities named.The fight between Rod Cameron and Forrest Tucker was one of the most impressive I've seen in films of this period, and Ella Raines as Celia Evarts acquitted herself very well against the roughs who invaded her home.The final shoot-out in the dark seemed short, almost to the point of being anticlimactic.But overall a good Western.

bkoganbing For a B western Ride The Man Down packs a lot of plot in its 90+ minute running time. It's a range war western, but it's complicated by the fact that several of the characters are really working their own agendas. It opens with the death during a blizzard of the death of a man who owned a large cattle spread.He must have been a most strong and charismatic man holding his range together where boundaries apparently are not fixed things. His daughter and heir Ella Raines has lost a lot of her hands and relies now on foreman Rod Cameron to protect her interests. Cameron himself has ridden roughshod in the past over a lot of people to keep that land for his late employer.Cameron's chief antagonist is Brian Donlevy, but Cameron has a lot of other enemies that only now are coming out because they think the local Ponderosa can't defend its interests any longer.Besides those mentioned Ride The Man Down as an impressive cast list of familiar players like Forrest Tucker, Barbara Britton, Chill Wills, Taylor Holmes, Paul Fix, Roy Barcroft, Jim Davis, J. Carrol Naish, and Douglas Kennedy. All perform with the usual professional polish you would expect from this group. They all look western comfortable in their parts. Most have been in lots of westerns before others can adapt anywhere.Ride The Man Down is a most adult western for a studio that churned out horse operas by the dozens every week for its Saturday afternoon kids. They watched their cowboys on television now and Republic now did its westerns for their parents. This one pretty good.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) Ride the Man Down lasts 90 minutes but so much happens that probably 30 minutes more were needed. The story is about a huge ranch that when the owner dies in a blizzard, becomes prey to a lot of other cattlemen, since the laws about the property of land in that region were not very precise. Rod Cameron is Will Ballard, the man who tries to keep the ranch together. Ella Raines is Celia, the woman who will inherit the ranch and who is engaged to Forrest Tucker (Sam), a man that from the start you can see is no good. No good either is the father of Lottie (Barbara Britton) who is Cameron's fiancée. Bide Marriner (Brian Donlevy) and Red Courteen (Jim Davis) are the most significant candidates to invade the ranch. The real trouble starts when Ray Cavanaugh (Paul Fix) kills John Evarts (James Bell) who was managing the ranch shooting him on his back. As there is non stop action in this western, it keeps you interested, my only criticism would be for the final shootout that takes place at night in the dark. Shootouts in the dark might lower the film's budget but they take away what could be one of the best moments. Anyhow, I really enjoyed this film.