Ride, Vaquero! ** (1953, Ava Gardner, Robert Taylor, Howard Keel, Anthony Quinn, Kurt Kasznar, Jack Elam, Ted de Corsia, Charlita) – Classic Movie Review 11,511

Director John Farrow’s 1953 Western film Ride, Vaquero! stars Ava Gardner, Robert Taylor, Howard Keel and Anthony Quinn in a story in which settlers in untamed territory encounter distrust and retaliation from the native inhabitants of the area.

Quinn plays Mexican bandit Jose Esqueda, who resents and conducts raids against settlers in the Brownsville, Texas region. He has burned down the ranch house King Cameron (Keel) has just built for his wife Cordelia (Gardner).

Rio (Taylor) joins forces with Esqueda, raised like brothers, but swaps allegiance to Cameron and saves his life, though Cordelia does not trust him.

Ride, Vaquero! is a wild Wild West melodrama, with an all-star cast, which attempts to deal with an unresolvable problem: guilt over acquisition of the land on which America is built. Leading lady Gardner exudes pure seduction as the love interest, while Quinn and Keel battle it out manfully on the range.

Fine actors and some thoughtful ideas are let down by some stodgy action scenes and a script by Frank Fenton that maintains a single tone of deadly earnest throughout the 90 minutes. But there is plenty of skill involved, and mostly on show on screen.

Also in the cast are Kurt Kasznar as Father Antonio, Jack Elam as Barton, Ted de Corsia as Sheriff Parker, Charlita as singer, Walter Baldwin, Frank McGrath, Charles Stevens, Monte Blue, Stanley Andrews, and Rex Lease, while Movita appears uncredited in a small role.

Parts of the film were shot in Kanab Canyon and Johnson Canyon in Utah.

With four popular stars, it was a hit. It cost $1,128,000 and earned $3,427,000, resulting in a profit to MGM of $895,000.

Ride, Vaquero! is made and released by MGM, is shot by cinematographer Robert Surtees in Ansco Color (print by Technicolor), produced by Stephen Ames from a screenplay by Frank Fenton and John Farrow, and scored by Bronislau Kaper.

Round about this time Robert Taylor had a lot to say regarding Communism in Hollywood: ‘Life is too short to be around people who annoy me as much as these fellow-travellers and Communists do.’ He mentioned actors Karen Morley and Howard Da Silva, and screenwriter Lester Cole. In February 1944, Taylor helped to found the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, formed to defend the film industry and America against what its founders claimed was Communist and fascist infiltration. When the House Un-American Activities Committee investigated the movie industry, most ‘friendly witnesses’ were supplied by the Alliance, which finally disbanded in 1975.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,511

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