Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Richie-67-485852 Nicely done Western with a very interesting story-line. I like the way it unfolds and how we follow the main character as he ups his game and his skills. This is the first time I have seen this approach to a western i.e. a detective type build-up that captures the viewer and holds them. I also like the Ranch that appears in the story. Beautiful with surrounding mountains, plenty of space and secluded. We have good guys, bad guys, bank robbers, love interests, saloons, lots of whiskey drinking, shootings, horses and even some flashback too. I am a Arthur Kennedy fan and he is one of the most under-rated actors out there. He always delivers a quality performance making you believe he is the character no problem. His Invasion of the Body Snatchers did it for me and of course he has done fine Westerns, dramas and all the rest. Good supporting cast. On Marlene Dietrich, anyone could have played the role she played and I wasn't thrilled to see her act it out but she does. Good movie to eat a burrito or steak sandwich plus a tasty drink. Mount-up all you pards and lets ride on this one.

Robert J. Maxwell Fritz Lang, the director, was quite a guy -- the last of the red hot authoritarians. He strode around the set in riding breeches and boots, a monocle in his eye, shouting orders in a German accent through his megaphone. He carried a sinister quirt.He made a silent feature in Germany, "Metropolis", that stands out from all the others of its type. When asked by the Nazis to head their film propaganda program, he told them he was "tickled pink" and he and his wife were on the next airplane to Hollywood, where he turned out a couple of splendid films noir and a few interesting mystery dramas, even a war movie of some merit.I have no idea why he consented to direct this irredeemable piece of crap. Most of the budget must have gone to Marlene Dietrich and Lang himself. (Maybe that's the reason.) It's a sort of rip off of Lang's "The Big Heat," in which a man's beloved is traumatized and the man spends the rest of the movie grimly seeking revenge.Unlike "The Big Heat," which at least let us see some cloying moments between Glenn Ford and his happy wife, we don't really get to know Arthur Kennedy's fiancée in this movie. But the revenge motive is equally strong. Instead of being blown apart, Kennedy's amour is "outraged" before she is shot to death in a hold up.Kennedy, just an ordinary cow poke, hunts them down alone, from Wyoming to Dietrich's ranch near the Mexican border. I'm always puzzled when I see some footloose wanderer, just aroamin' around, looking for somebody or something. It's a long way from Wyoming to Mexico on horseback, stopping frequently to ask questions. Kennedy started on his unplanned journey with nothing but the clothes on his back. Where did he get the money? I mean, okay, he sleeps out under the stars with his saddle for a pillow. But how about in town? When the hotel desk clerk asks for payment, into what stash does Kennedy reach? And how did he come to be such an accomplished gunslinger after only a little practice? But why ask such questions? The movie is strictly routine. It's studio bound. The acting is sometimes execrable but even the better performers can't overcome the script. The infrequent attempts at humor fail. And you should hear the tawdry theme song.This is not Fritz Lang territory. He's stranded in the desert here, staggering about, desperate for relief from the heat, a sip of water, an aromatic whiff of smog, a Wiener Schnitzel.

jc-osms I'll always go out of my way to catch any of Fritz Lang's Hollywood output, even the rare westerns like this and enjoyed this tightly plotted little tragedy of murder hate and revenge as Arthur Kennedy embarks on a vengeance mission against the villain who brutally raped and murdered his fiancée.Unlike say, John Ford or Anthony Mann, two of his western making contemporaries, Lang keeps our focus on the characters and their story so that we rarely get sprawling landscape shots of men (or women) seemingly dwarfed by nature. Instead we get to peer into a little microcosm world where more down to earth individuals grapple with their emotional urges, usually to the detriment of others around them.Thus, Kennedy's avenging angel holds our attention from first to last and while he gets his revenge by the end, with the help of outlaw gunslinger Frenchy Freemont, played by Mel Ferrer, from whom he improbably learns to become the quickest draw around, the tragedy is compounded by the incidental death of Deitrich's wonderfully-named Altar Keane.Within the confines of 90 short minutes, the characterisations go deeper then than most westerns you'll see helped by conviction acting, especially Kennedy in the lead as another of Lang's "little man" heroes dogged by tragedy who strike back hard against the offending world. However, quite what a middle-aged female Teutonic bar-room balladeer like Deitrich is doing offering safe-home protection for on-the-run outlaws is anyone's guess but the grand dame still scrubs up well even in her fifties and convinces you that her personality can rule this unruly mob. There are a few minor Expressionist Lang touches to look out for, for example the moment when Kennedy's girl realises the extent of the danger she's in is conveyed in two brief close-ups of her and her attacker, a brawl involving Kennedy briefly reflected in a mirror and a "meet the gang" succession of front-facing portrait shots culminating in the driven, staring features of Kennedy. There's even a little sub-Weimar decadence brought to life in Deitrich's introduction scene with her riding "horseback" a adoring male in a slightly bizarre barroom scene from her younger days. I could have done without the contemporary sub-Frankie Laine balladeering interspersed throughout and wasn't quite convinced by the Kennedy/Ferrer/Dietrich triangle with Ferrer not quite exuding the swagger or danger of being the fastest gun but this unusual western, shot in garish Technicolour (no doubt Deitrich had the lights on full-pelt!) belies the convolutions of its plot to deliver a watchable film, worth seeking out.

Neil Doyle Not since JOHNNY GUITAR became a cult classic, has there been an odder western than RANCHO NOTORIOUS with its studio-bound outdoor sets filmed in muted Technicolor and such oddities as: 1) MEL FERRER, who looks cast against type as a fast gunslinger; 2) FRITZ LANG of film noir fame as the director of a mechanical western; 3) MARLENE DIETRICH fatally attracted to ARTHUR KENNEDY, with whom she shares no chemistry whatsoever; 4) GEORGE ("Superman") REEVES looking a bit flabby in a thin bad guy supporting role; 5) A clichéd, banal theme song to establish the "love, hate, revenge" motif of the story; 6) The central role of a tough outlaw (MARLENE DIETRICH) giving rise to comparisons with another cult favorite oddity, JOHNNY GUITAR and Miss JOAN CRAWFORD.To Dietrich's credit, when out of her western garb and gowned in jewels and gown, she looks stunning. But most of the time the close-ups are less than flattering and only emphasize the modern make-up and hairstyle that doesn't exactly smack of the Old West. It's a bit jarring, to say the least.Most of the performances are standard for this genre, but ARTHUR KENNEDY stands out like a sore thumb as the biggest miscasting mistake in the film, aside from MEL FERRER. Kennedy's tough guy seems like a pose left over from so many other of his petulant performances and this time there's absolutely nothing visible in his chemistry with Dietrich. No sparks despite all of his tempestuous outbreaks.Summing up: A trifle that can easily be overlooked in the resume of Fritz Lang.