Riding Shotgun *** (1954, Randolph Scott, Wayne Morris, Joan Weldon) – Classic Movie Review 6600

Director André de Toth’s solid and sturdy enough run-of-the-range 1954 Western is based on the 1942 short story Riding Solo by Kenneth Taylor Perkins, and stars Randolph Scott, Wayne Morris and Joan Weldon.

Scott plays Larry Delong and Morris plays Deputy Sheriff Tub Murphy, while Weldon plays Delong’s sweetheart Orissa Flynn. Riding Shotgun is carefully, even lovingly, made by de Toth and strongly performed by Scott.

Riding shotgun for a stagecoach, Scott’s embattled Delong character is framed for murder and a holdup, and then goes out to establish his innocence after he is mistaken for an outlaw and a lynch mob forms to get him. Only Orissa, Tub and Doc Winkler (James Bell) are on his side until the sheriff and his posse can get back to town.

Scott eventually of course does establish his innocence in the best way possible, by removing the evil Dan Marady (James Millican), who has murdered Delong’s sister and nephew, and all of his town’s bad guys, who have set him up.

Also in the cast are Joe Sawyer, James Bell, Charles Bronson, Fritz Feld, Richard Garrick, Victor Perrin, John Baer, Paul Picerni and Dub Taylor. The 5′ 8½” tough guy Charles Bronson was then billed under his real name of Charles Buchinsky, born in 1921 in Pennsylvania to Lithuanian parents.

Thomas W [Tom] Blackburn writes the screenplay from Kenneth Perkins’s story. The Warner Bros film runs 73 minutes, is shot in WarnerColor by Bert Glennon, produced by Ted Sherdeman, scored by David Buttolph, designed by Edward Carrere and edited by Rudi Fehr.

Riding Shotgun is filmed at Bell Ranch, Santa Susana, and Warner Ranch, Calabasas, both in California.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6600

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