Saddle the Wind

 Posted on July 27, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  794 words  |  Jenniffer Sheldon

Armand Deutsch's production is the story of a wrong kid, a real bad one, dangerous as he is charming, that is as germane to today's headlines as it was when the restless gunslingers roamed the west. Rod Serling's screenplay [from a screen story by Thomas Thompson] is colorful and exciting and director Robert Parrish has kept it keyed high for a fast, exciting picture. Robert Taylor, Julie London and John Cassavetes act out this tale of compulsive evil against the magnificent location backgrounds of the Colorado Rockies.

Armand Deutsch’s production is the story of a wrong kid, a real bad one, dangerous as he is charming, that is as germane to today’s headlines as it was when the restless gunslingers roamed the west. Rod Serling’s screenplay [from a screen story by Thomas Thompson] is colorful and exciting and director Robert Parrish has kept it keyed high for a fast, exciting picture. Robert Taylor, Julie London and John Cassavetes act out this tale of compulsive evil against the magnificent location backgrounds of the Colorado Rockies.

Taylor plays Steve Sinclair, a retired gunman, sick of death and sick to death of guns. He is farming the lush valley presided over by Donald Crisp, patriarchal landowner who has given Taylor his chance to foreswear violence and bring up his orphaned, much-younger brother, John Cassavetes. But Cassavetes is one of those young men to whom a gun is more exciting than a beautiful woman, even though he does bring back saloon singer Julie London from a trip to the big city. He also brings back a hair-triggered six-shooter and proceeds to prove his manhood, not with London, but with the gun.

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Taylor gives a lot of ruggedness to his role, still gentle and loving with the kid brother. London, who also sings the lyrical title song by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, gets exceptional believability into her part, somewhat hackneyed, as the dance hall girl who really wants to settle down. Cassavetes has a tendency to be rather mannered but his intensity gives great conviction.

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Saddle the Wind

  • Production: M-G-M. Director Robert Parrish; Producer Armand Deutsch; Screenplay Rod Serling; Camera George J. Folsey; Editor John McSweeney Jr.; Music Elmer Bernstein; Art Director William A. Horning, Malcolm Brown
  • Crew: (Color) Widescreen. Extract of a review from 1958. Running time: 84 MIN.
  • With: Robert Taylor Julie London John Cassavetes Donald Crisp Charles McGraw Royal Dano

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