Ride a Crooked Trail (1958)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

Nice effects though.

Am I Missing Something?

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

As simple case of mistaken identity puts wanted bank robber Audie Murphy in position of Sheriff in a small but fast growing Western Town - with its own large bank. The film plods along nicely giving enough to keep the viewer interested and when it does begin to delve into Murphy's character, it still manages to keep the question 'will he or wont he' wide open. Walter Mattau provides the comedy as the drunken judge who rules with an iron fist. Enjoyable..

I always have some misgivings watching Audie Murphy portray a bad guy (Gunsmoke, No Name on the Bullet); he's got that clean cut All-American look going for him that doesn't seem to jive with his character. The same is true here, but the thing is, he's not really an outlaw in this picture except in name. Arriving in a Western town while on the run, he's mistakenly assumed to be the U.S. Marshal who was tracking him at the start of the story. Too bad about the marshal, he should have watched his step.This may be a starring vehicle for Murphy, but it's Walter Matthau who holds this thing together as the cantankerous Judge Kyle. He's a pretty tough lawman who's word goes in town (how come this town didn't have a name?), and his gruff manner steals every scene he's in. It doesn't take long for the judge to read the fake marshal, but he keeps his play close to the vest until an intended bank robbery eventually goes down. Joe Maybe (Murphy) maintains an uneasy alliance with outlaw Sam Keeler (Henry Silva), and when the time is right, the Curtis Bank will be ripe for picking.The hook in the story rests with the young boy Jimmy who's befriended by Maybe. I liked the tale about Maybe getting his name, shortened from May's boy, and how he was raised by some saloon gals. It was a bit too coincidental that Jimmy's growing up in the same circumstances, and it didn't quite ring true to me to see him doing that much school work. About as implausible as Maybe playing house with Keeler's girlfriend Tessa (Gia Scala), while planning on robbing the bank herself along with Keeler's bunch. So it's no surprise that Maybe second guesses himself throughout the picture and winds up going straight for good after settling the score with Keeler. It's probably best not to think about all of this too much while watching the picture, especially the part about Maybe and Tessa given their own furnished home to live in within twenty four hours of arriving on the scene. No wonder Murphy had that incredulous look on his face throughout the story.

i really enjoyed this western as i always liked audie murphy westerns. also a great performance by walter matthau as the crusty old judge. also gia scala is great as the bad girl with a big hearti wish they would show this, other audie murphy movies and all the 50's westernsfrom universal-international on tcm. also what do we have to do to get these great old western from universal on DVD? "ride a crooked trail" rates up there with me with "the cimmaron kid" "night passage" "the duel at silver creek" and the "unforgiven" as audie's great westerns. they put out old black & white westerns from the 30's and 40's from other studios but why don't they put universal's great color westerns from the 50's out on DVD

I would have to say, walter matthau in this early supporting performance was truly a stage presence to have in a film like this. This movie being one that shows the lines and decisions that a born tough guy must make to decide whats really whats truly dear to him. Sort of a shadow to Audie Murphy's character was the young boy, who grew up also in a saloon, but never stood a chance to grow up straight until a man, such as himself took a stand against injustice and only then, was the young boy cured of the sins he was born into...Excellent choice if you want to know what moral 50's Hollywood wanted to put out there.Ritchie Fontaine