Ride in the Whirlwind was directed back-to-back with The Shooting, sharing many similarities with cast, setting, and crew. It feels like a little bit of a classier production, perhaps because it seemed to have less conflicts during the production itself but I wouldn't know, I'm just an idiot. It's certainly not as visually impressive. And there's not really any OH MY GOD NICHOLSON IS A GOOFY/GREAT ACTOR moments. BUT: It does feature Harry Dean Stanton. Upon realizing this fact, I watched the film immediately. And I got a bearded Rupert Crosse as a bonus. NICE! The film is quite a bit more engaging than The Shooting, I feel. But I'd like to stop comparing the two. I was constantly trying to see where it was going. Held me in suspense. A chase movie, where two innocent cowboys (Nicholson and Mitchell) are trying to outrun some nasty vigilantes after being confused for gang members of Blind Dick (of course played by Dean Stanton). I sort of liked how the cowboys may have been wrongly accused, but their fight for survival was very real. They were clearly moral gentlemen, but they set their morals aside for a bit. The film is actually a little absent of morals. No one is completely awful, everyone is just doing what they can to survive. The exception is the mob of vigilantes out for justice, who are pretty much dicks. Even Dean Stanton ends up being a nice enough guy. Not a great guy. But there's a line where one of his henchmen is complaining about a pain or some kind of sore and Stanton tells him he should get it looked at or taken care of. He shows these funny moments of sympathy. Letting the cowboys stay the night despite fearing a trap. Ride the Whirlwind is an engaging enough western. I was never really bored while watching it. It may not stand out but certainly worth of the eighty minutes it'll take to watch it.
Rupert Crosse may have been in Shadows but I'll always remember him as having a BADASS FUCKING BEARD!
No comments:
Post a Comment