Plain forgettable
A short western, but not a very sweet one. Ride Lonesome is pure and simple genre work, but after a slightly more action-packed start I was tentatively positive. That didn't last for very long, as the film grinds to a halt after that, focusing more on shallow conversations and unappealing characters. Ben is a bounty hunter who manages to capture Billy, a man wanted for murder. Billy gets word out to his brother Frank and to make matters worse, Ben and Billy run into a group of Indians on their way to pick up the bounty. With a little help from Carrie, caretaker of a nearby way station, Ben will do his best to fend off his enemies. This is a film for true western fans. The story is very basic, the characters are typical macho men and the setting is as brown as it gets. Apart from the more action-packed introduction, it's a film that leans heavily on dialogues and intrigue, though I can't say I cared for any of it. At least it was short, so it never got the chance to become too boring or long-winded.Read all
Big nopes
Vintage western. The kind that doesn't even want to pretend it's going to deliver anything beyond burly men with hats and guns in a barren setting. To say I'm not a fan of westerns is an understatement, so films like these really aren't for me. At least this one was short, which put a clearer deadline on the hurt. A young, married couple is renting a postal coach. On the way they pick up Pat, who just lost his horse in a bet. Of course some outlaws have their eyes on the coach. When they find out that the young bride is in fact the daughter of a wealthy businessman, the fate of the people in the coach is sealed. The plot is extremely basic, there's a ton of uninteresting dialogue, ruined even further by poor actors and the cinematography is disappointing. There's really nothing here that could excite me, it's a good thing then that the film is pretty short. Ah well, I'm sure there's some or other western out there that will surprise me one day.Read all