User Reviews

Ride Clear of Diablo is a stand out among the B westerns that Audie Murphy did in the 1950s. Murphy is Clay O'Mara who's looking for cattle rustlers that murdered his father and brother while he was away from the family ranch.

Murphy gets hired by Sheriff Paul Birch as a Deputy and also takes a liking to Birch's niece Susan Cabot. She's got a fella though in lawyer William Pullen.

The joker in the deck in this film is Dan Duryea. Duryea was a fine actor who played many a psychotic villain in films. A typical and unforgettable part for him would be Waco Johnny Dean in Winchester 73. That's quintessential Dan Duryea. A year earlier in 1953 in Thunder Bay, Anthony Mann who directed Winchester 73, fooled his audience by not having Duryea betray Jimmy Stewart.

Something similar happens here. Audie Murphy is sent out to bring in Duryea, but the two develop a relationship of sorts. He's still Dan Duryea, hyena laugh and all, but you're not quite sure what he's gonna do in the end. And I'm not gonna say what either, but it's the key to the film.

Audie Murphy did some fine B westerns in the 1950s. Unfortunately the B western was finding a new home in television. But Murphy's work is appreciated among western fans today though.

Audie Murphy's name may be at the top of the bill but it's pretty much Dan Duryea's picture the way he overtakes any scene he's in. Duryea reminded me of Richard Widmark as Tommy Udo in the 1947 film "Kiss of Death" the way he laughs maniacally whether the situation calls for it or not. I was thinking that if there was an old lady in the story, he might have thrown her down a flight of stairs just for the fun of it.

Murphy's character is Clay O'Mara, returning from a railroad job (no, really, he worked for a railroad, he wasn't railroaded) to track down the villain who murdered his father and brother during a cattle rustling operation. His quarry is upstanding citizen Tom Meredith (William Pullen) doing a hide in plain sight in concert with crooked Santiago town sheriff (Paul Birch). The pair send him on a mission sure to get O'Mara seriously killed when they finger Whitey Kincaid (Duryea) as a prime suspect.

It's never explained in the story how Clay O'Mara came by his skill with a six shooter. I was probably more surprised that Kincaid when the 'kid' shot the gun right out of his hand in a barroom face off. Sure you expect it of the story's hero but the groundwork was never laid for it, and O'Mara himself never gave a clue how he was so handy with a gun. Maybe he should have been the ringer in the story instead of Russell Johnson.

Say, did you notice the bars of the jail cell Whitey got locked up in - what's with the flimsy cross-hatch design? It looked like you could have pried them open with a decent crow bar if you had one. Probably why Kincaid didn't have one. He didn't need it actually since the sheriff gave him his gun back.

I don't know what might be considered the first revisionist Western but Duryea's performance here might be considered one of the earliest examples of a cowboy anti-hero. He's a villain you come to terms with the way Murphy's character did when he turned his back on the outlaw and lived to tell about it. It's too bad really that he didn't make it to the end of the picture.

"Ride Clear of the Diablo" was the first of six films director Jesse Hibbs helmed with Audie Murphy as star during the 1950s. The second film that the director and star collaborated on was Murphy's autobiographical exploits in World War II. The third outing, "World in My Corner," was a boxing movie. The fourth picture, "Walk the Proud Land," was an off-beat oater with Murphy cast as a sympathetic Indian agent looking after the welfare of Native Americans. "Joe Butterfly," a military service comedy set in occupied Tokyo after World War II, marked their fifth film together as director and star. The last of their six movies, "Ride the Crooked Trail," was another Universal Studios' western. A simple, but entertaining tale of treachery and revenge, "Ride Clear of Diablo" finds Audie searching for those responsible for the dastardly murders of his father Patrick O'Mara (Tim Graham of "High Noon") and brother Andrew O'Mara (Hamilton Camp of "Dick Tracy") and the theft of their cattle. Mind you, railway surveyor Clay O'Mara (Audie Murphy) was working in another state when he learned about the tragic news of his father and brother. Clay drops everything and heads back home to Santiago. The obstacle that the villains experience with Clay is that they consistently miscalculate what he can accomplish based on his deceptively slight stature and his young school boy looks. Santiago Sheriff Fred Kenyon (Paul Birch of "Gunman's Walk") and Attorney Tom Meredith (William Pullen of "The Lawless Breed") greet our hero when he arrives in Santiago. Meredith killed both father and brother with a Winchester from the back of his horse during a stampede. Another dirty, low-down sidewinder who rode when them on that fateful day, Jed Ringer (Russell Johnson of TV's "Gilligan's Island") is on hand during the mischief. He is a double-crossing skunk if there ever was one who has deceived a saloon singer Kate (Abby Lane of "Caesar Against the Pirates") into being his girlfriend. As it turns out, Abby is privy to all the bad things that go on in Santiago.

Predictably, Clay wants to know more about the desperadoes who rustled his father's cattle. Shrewdly, Kenyon and Meredith confide in Clay that the notorious gunslinger Whitey Kincade (Dan Duryea of "Six Black Horses") may have been responsible for the deaths of his father and brother. Whitey enjoys quite a reputation as a fast hand with a gun, and Meredith and Sheriff Kenyon believe Whitey will dispose of Clay with no problems. Meredith is one of those charming villains who steps forth to defend the very people that they want killed. Initially, Sheriff Kenyon is against deputizing Clay, but Meredith convinces him that Clay deserves to get answers to the questions involving his family. Neither think Clay will learn anything from Whitey. Moreover, they have no doubts Whitey will drop Clay in his tracks, and they will be relieved of any anxiety involving Clay's inquisitiveness.

Dan Duryea was a durable presence in the countless westerns that he made, and he enjoyed playing villains. His performance as Whitey Kincade overshadows everybody else in "Ride Clear of Diablo." Initially, when he meets Clay in a saloon at Diablo, Whitey thinks that he won't have any difficulty killing Clay. However, fast on the draw Clay surprises not only Whitey but also the spectators watching their showdown. Among those spectators is Tim Lowerie (Jack Elam of "Support Your Local Sheriff"), who is an outlaw. Imagine their surprise when Clay escorts Whitey back to Santiago. After Sheriff Kenyon locks Whitey up in his calaboose, Whitey informs the lawman that if his trial goes the wrong way, he will tell everybody about the corruption in Santiago. Kenyon confides in Meredith, and they convince Jed to take the stand as a defense witness on behalf of Whitey to clear him of any criminal wrongdoing. Jed is tired to playing second fiddle and demands more money from Meredith. Meredith reveals that Wells Fargo will be shipping a bundle in silver, and Kenyon and he want Jed to rob it. Little do they know that Jed plans to double-cross them. No sooner is Whitey turned loose than he tells Clay about the corrupt sheriff and duplicitous lawyer. Naturally, Clay is dubious about Whitey's information. Duryea plays the vainglorious Whitey with a maniacal laugh and grows to like Clay. In a sense, these two become friendly enemies. When Clay rides off to retrieve a stolen white horse that the Lowerie's have taken, Whitey shows up to help him. Clay takes the horse, but he has a rough time escaping the wrath of the Loweries who pursue him, slinging lead futilely from horseback as they chase him. Earlier, when the owner told Clay about the theft of his prized stallion, he assured our hero that his stolen horse could outrun anything in the territory. Clay has to abandon his own mount and ride the white stallion to escape from the trigger-happy Loweries.

Throughout "Ride Clear of Diablo," Sheriff Kenyon's daughter, Laurie Kenyon (Susan Cabot of "The Wasp Woman") hovers in the background and foreground. Initially, she is Meredith's girlfriend, even though she knows nothing about the criminal activities of both Meredith and her father. She takes a liking to Clay, and they become close friends. Meantime, Jet kills the three men riding guard on the Wells Fargo silver wagon, and he stashes the precious metal in an abandoned mine. Eventually, Clay tracks him down with the help of Whitey, and they kill Jed and find the loot. During the gunfight, Jed wounds Whitey, and Clay takes him back to Santiago. Back in town, Meredith and Kenyon are waiting in ambush for Clay, and Whitey helps him survive a shootout. While Whitey guns down Kenyon, Clay kills Lowerie. "Ride Clear of Diablo" qualifies as an above-average western, largely owing to Duryea's charismatic performance.

In this rather routine-plotted Western, the men keep referring to Audie Murphy as "the boy" or "the kid." It seemed to fit. He was almost thirty but didn't look it. He wasn't big, like John Wayne, or deep of voice. He was self effacing. His acting talents were modest. He gave one memorable performance in "The Red Badge of Courage," a flawed movie, but not flawed because of him. And all his life suffered from what we would now call PTSD. It practically wrecked him. He slept with a pistol under his pillow and had recurring dreams of being attacked by Germans while his M-1 fell apart, piece by piece, in his hands. He really earned those decorations.

In "Ride Clear of Diablo," a mid-career movie, he's the good guy whose father and younger brother have been killed while trying to prevent their cattle from being rustled. He comes to town from Denver, where he's been working as a railroad dispatcher or something equally clerical. The local sheriff and lawyer, being particeps criminis themselves, send him after Whitey Kinkaid, the gunslinger in a nearby town, played by Dan Duryea, thinking that the kid will draw on Whitey and get his head shot off. Murphy outdraws Whitey, shoots the gun out of his hand, and takes him captive. It's the kind of movie where no one bothers to explain how a railroad bureaucrat has learned to shoot so well.

It gets kind of interesting because a bond of wary friendship develops between Duryea, who happens to be innocent of this particular crime, and Murphy. Not that they hug each other and take showers together, but Duryea shows his respect for Murphy by doing him little favors, such as not shooting him in the back when he has the chance to do it.

Duryea is his usual wisecracking self, all smiles. He laughs a lot. He laughs so much that sometimes he seems like a maniac and the director should have reined him in. But, okay. He's one of those likable rogues. It's a familiar enough figure in movies. The relationship is complex enough to keep the viewer interested. Without it, you're just watching another Audie Murphy Western.

Susan Cabot is the good girl. She's as innocent and well behaved as Audie Murphy. Murphy has one drink in the movie, except for a lot of water and milk and coffee. Cabot may have been mentally unbalanced and met a bad death. Abbe Lane is the naughty girl. She has hair the color of a tangerine and sings in a saloon, so we know she's bad. But, though she may have slept with her boyfriend or something, she's not evil. Both women are made up like mannequins and sport false eyelashes the size of tarpaulins.

I won't give the ending away except to reveal what the experienced viewer must already know -- Murphy and Cabot live happily ever after.

Dan Duryea consistently upstages the staid Audie Murphy(as Clay) during their many interactions, both negative and friendly. They eventually become an amusing reluctant buddy pair. I'll classify Dan(as Whitey)as a ruffian rather than a villain, at least in the context of this story. Unclear how he made a living. The real bad guys, surprisingly, are Sheriff Kenyon(Paul Birch) lawyer Tom Meredith, and their henchman Ted Ringer(Russell Johnson). They're into cattle rustling, and silver shipment theft, for example. Very surprisingly, the sheriff and Tom are the major participants in the cattle rustling operation. Tom is decked out in his business suit and bow tie while rustling! When owner Patrick O'Mara and his teenage son are awakened, they ride after the rustlers but are shot dead. Clay O'Mara, in distant Denver, receives a letter from Tom telling about the tragedy, and saying he will settle the estate. When Clay arrives, Tom has already sold his father's ranch(to himself?), and suggests that Clay might as well go back to where he came from, as they can handle any further details relating to the murder or property. But Clay wants to get in on the hunt for the killers, and demands to be deputized. Tom realizes that this might be a way to get rid of him quickly. So, he suggests gunslinger Whitey is a good possibility. Clay goes looking for Whitey in Diablo, and finds him in a saloon. Whitely draws on him, but Clay is faster, and shoots the gun out of his hand. Whitey reluctantly submits to Clay's arrest, and they head for San Diego, and various adventures until the real killers are dealt with.

Gorgeous Susan Cabot plays Sheriff Kenyon's live-in niece, Laurie, who initially is engaged to marry Tom. However, as her opinion of Clay rises, her opinion of Tom declines, especially toward the end, and she dumps him for Clay. ..Abby Lane is another featured female, she being an entertainer and singer at a Diablo saloon. She has an active relationship with Jed Ringer, and a past relationship with Whitey. Obviously, she's the stereotypical 'bad girl', to Laurie's image as the 'good girl'....Denver Pyle plays the minister, who talks to Clay when he arrives about not being too hasty in his thirst for revenge.

Jack Elan plays Tim Lowerie who, with his brothers, steal an all white horse. Clay is charged with finding it. Whitey leads him to the Loweries, where he suspects it is. Clay takes the horse away, but the Loweries don't give up that easily.

In short, this is an interesting oater, with Duryea providing an extra kick. See it in color at YouTube.