ma-cortes Highly watchable Western based on a story by Thomas Thompson with screenplay by the prestigious Rod Serling ; dealing with confrontation between family members and about fights between cattlemen and homesteaders . The picture gets action Western , shootouts , wonderful outdoors and turns out to be quite entertaining with amazing visual style . This interesting movie is set in post-Civil War ; it features Steve Sinclair (Robert Taylor) , a world a world-weary , prior gunfighter , now living as a peaceful farmer , his wild younger brother Tony (John Cassavetes) , and a previous dance hall girl , Joan Blake , (Julie London) , masquerading as a lady . Tony meets the cabaret girl Joan and impulsively to marry her , returning to run the family ranch . Then , things go awry when Tony arrives on the scene with his new bride Joan Blake . Everyone there is enchanted with Joan ; however , when some settlers (Royal Dano) appear , events go wrong . Agreeable Western packs drama about sibling squabbles , thrills , shootouts , go riding and some moving action sequences . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians , production values and pleasing results . In this case family feuds make for a really thrilling film , as it contains a thoughtful and thought-provoking script regarding to the ranch scenarios , adding ranchers confrontations , joining Western with melodrama . As well as making full of sense , intense drama and intelligence . ¨Saddle the wind¨ was hardly received its fair due and panned by some critics , as Western genre being past their peak of popularity . And the final is poignantly as well as dynamically unexpected , including an exciting duel . Good performances from Robert Taylor as obstinate ex-gunslinger , this is the best movie of Taylor's later work ; John Cassavetes as reckless as well as nutty young brother who gives a mannered but intelligent acting and Julie London as his bride who bears a dark past . Julie London catches the eye carrying out an imaginative and gorgeous acting ; besides , playing an attractive song . Large plethora of secondaries , such as Charles McGraw , Royal Dano , Richard Erdman , Ray Teal and special mention for Donald Crisp as old patriarch baron land . Colorful and glimmer cinematography by George J. Folsey , being magnificently illuminated in Cinemascope and Metrocolor , setting itself against the marvelous backdrop of the Colorado Rockies , actually filmed on location in Rosita , Colorado . Evocative as well as atmospheric musical score by the great Elmer Bernstein , along with a catching song at the beginning composed by Jay Livingstone . However , a first soundtrack was written and recorded by Jeff Alexander but had to be replaced due to extensive re-cutting . The motion picture was professionally directed in sure visual eye by Robert Parrish providing an abundance of noisy acting , color and stirring happenings . Among his best received works was this brooding western ¨Saddle the Wind¨ (1958) . He was an Academy Award-winning film editor who also realized and acted in movies . Parrish was soon working on some of Hollywood's most prestigious films, cementing his reputation as one of the America's premier editors . Unfortunately, while many of his directorial efforts were visually impressive ,especially his war drama , ¨The Purple Plain¨ , his labour as editor was excellent . As an editor he won an Academy Award for Body and soul (1947), the 1947 Robert Rossen film that starred John Garfield as a money-grubbing, two-timing boxer on the make . Parrish also worked on All the King's Men (1949), an account of the rise and fall of a Louisiana politician that won the Academy Award for Best Picture . Parrish then moved on to direct films during the 1950s and 1960s . He realized a variety films of all kind of genres , such as melodrama : ¨Fire down below¨ , comedy : ¨The Bobo¨ , parody : ¨Casino Royale¨ , a Noir film titled ¨Cry danger¨ , a Sci-Fi picture titled ¨Journey to the far side of the sun¨ , a thriller titled ¨The Marseille Contract¨ or ¨The Destructors¨ and another strange Western called ¨A town called Bastard¨. And of course , ¨Saddle the wind¨¨ resulted to be one of his best films .

gordonl56 SADDLE THE WIND - 1958I finally got around to this 1958 western headlined by Robert Taylor, John Cassavetes and Julie London. The film is sort of a psychological Western written by the great Rod Serling. It was helmed by director Robert Parrish with help from an uncredited John Sturges. Robert Taylor is an ex gunfighter who owns a ranch in a high mountain valley. The man had worked for the main land owner in the valley, Donald Crisp for years. Crisp, in sort of a mentor role, had softened Taylor's hard edges and turned him into a solid citizen. Crisp had even given Taylor a piece of land to start his own cattle ranch. Of course there needs to be something to upset this pleasant image. And that is Taylor's younger brother, John Cassavetes. Cassavetes is a wild rather unstable lad who does not like living in the shadow of his popular brother. Cassavetes, just back from a supply buying run to the big city, arrives back at the ranch with his pretty bride to be, Julie London. London, a former dance hall singer, believes that Cassavetes might be her ticket to the good life. Taylor sees London as a gold digger and tries to send her back. The kid brother has shall we say, developed an itchy trigger finger. Taylor knows full well how such a liking for the gun will end. He tries repeatedly to get his younger brother to relax. London soon clues in on the fact that Cassavetes is really jealous of Taylor, and is a rat at heart.Cassavetes, Taylor, London and a few of the boys ride into what passes for the local one horse town. It is the small general store, bar and livery stable type burg. Cassavetes hits the bar for a few. Soon a famous gunman, Charles McGraw, enters. McGraw is looking for Taylor. Taylor shot his brother in a gunfight some years before and McGraw has finally tracked him to the valley.Cassavetes calls McGraw out not knowing just how good McGraw is. It is only through a bit of luck and McGraw being distracted at the right moment that Cassavetes emerges the victor. Needless to say this gives Cassavetes a swelled head. This leads to more idiot behaviour from the kid. He soon kills again and finds he likes it. His actions literally start what could end in a range war, when he shoots the leader of a group of squatters, Royal Dano. He then really stokes the fire when he shoots and badly wounds, Donald Crisp. Taylor of course has to settle the issue, brother or no brother. A somewhat grim, but very well-crafted film with an ending I was not expecting. The rest of the cast includes Ray Teal, who seemed to be in every second western, Doug Spencer, Jay Adler and Stanley Andrews. London is very under used here but she does manage to get in a song. The film was shot on location in Colorado which adds a nice look to the production. Director Parrish is well known to fans of film noir as the helmsman on CRY DANGER and THE MOB. He also handled the reins on the top Robert Mitchum western, THE WONDERFUL COUNTRY. Veteran cinematographer George Folsey is at the controls as the director of photography. The 11 time Oscar nominated Folsey's work includes. MEET ME IN ST LOUIS, ADAM'S RIB, MALAYA, THE BIG HANGOVER, VENGEANCE VALLEY, ALL THE BROTHER WERE VALIANT, EXCECUTIVE SUITE, THE COBWEB and HOUSE OF NUMBERS.

Clark Richards Robert Taylor as Steve Sinclair gets top billing in this film and John Cassavetes(Tony Sinclair) steals the picture from Robert Taylor, but the real star of the film is its chief writer, Rod Serling. Serling establishes at the beginning of the movie a town where the folk 'don't want any gun-play'. In the opening sequence, Larry Venables (Charles McGraw) comes into a bar demanding whiskey, eggs and a side of information on the whereabouts of Steve Sinclair. Though we don't know it at the time, Tony Sinclair killed Venables' brother. So now we see Venables berating the barkeep with insults and threats, throwing the watered down whiskey to the ground and letting everyone in the bar know, if he has to, he will wait for his moment of revenge in the bar. This really establishes the tone for the entire movie. Something bad is about to go down, even if that something bad means he(Venables) has to die in this bar for it to happen. The dialog in this opening scene is bright and snappy, not a word out of place.Things really start to speed up when the younger Sinclair comes into the movie with Joan Blake(Julie London)in tow. Although he remarks to his 'soon to be' wife that, 'Steve's gonna love you', I doubt very much that he knew how true that statement would be. It's too bad, really because the young Sinclair has enough young man's angst/sexual energy to burn, as he spends his first moments with his girl at the new homestead actually away from his girl, shooting his gun at objects around the ranch trying to impress his older brother. At one defining moment of self loathing in the movie, the young Sinclair duels with his own reflection in a puddle.Another intriguing character is that of Dennis Deneen(Donald Crisp). He seems to be the center of the movie; always defining a pacifist approach to the violence in his town, letting his cattle wander freely without any fences. Then later wanting to do the right thing for a Yankee squatter who was wronged by the younger Sinclair over a land claim, and finally giving the moral high ground to his surrogate son, the elder Sinclair, ultimately forgiving him when the elder Sinclair couldn't attain his same high morality. Serling establishes a character who is as adverse to gun-play as he is to putting up fences around his property. The song that Julie London sings is very good.Cassavetes, Crisp, London and Taylor give solid performances. 9/10.Clark Richards

RanchoTuVu Saddle the Wind tells the story of Tony Sinclair (John Cassavetes), the troubled younger brother of Steve Sinclair (Robert Taylor) who both share ownership of a cattle ranch. They make for an interesting pair, the caricatured, out of control and insecure kid vs his mature, older, wiser, and better with a gun brother. What's more interesting, but isn't really developed very well, is the emerging situation between Taylor and Julie London, who plays Cassavetes somewhat reluctant fiancée that he brings home after a night of carousing. Charles McGraw has an interesting if abbreviated role as the well known gunfighter Larry Venables, who comes into town hunting for Steve (Taylor) but has to deal with Tony (Cassavetes). Purely by luck, Tony kills the far better Venables and now really believes he's a gunfighter. Not only did he kill one of the fastest gunmen around, but he defended his brother as well. He's a kid playing a man's game, and his actions get more out of control, leading to an inevitable showdown with his brother. Putting a juvenile delinquent in a Technicolor western wasn't unknown in the fifties, but Cassavetes is definitely more at home in Brooklyn than Wyoming.