Rancho Notorious

source: Rancho Notorious

First of all I must admit I'm not a fan of westerns, which is a great fault, since there are wonderful master pieces where that genre is concerned. "Rancho Notorious" isn't a conventional western, I suppose. It's more like a western with an European touch - Fritz Lang's touch (and also Marlene Dietrich touch). I liked the film, but I don't think it is very good. Still it isn't as bad as Marlene Dietrich used to say on interviews. "Rancho Notorious" reminds me of "Johnny Guitar" (more or less the same kind of photography, the older woman, etc.). But "Johnny Guitar" is, in my opinion, a much better movie. If you are a M. Dietrich fan you should see this film. There is only one thing I don't like with Dietrich in color: her red lips. The shade of that lipstick is not very pretty... on the other hand, she was a beautiful woman. If you like Fritz Lang you'll enjoy the movie like I did.

The third and last Western by Fritz Lang, Rancho Notorious is a weird, distinctive, film-noir infused Oater containing familiar Fritz Lang themes. Adapted by Daniel Taradash from an original story by Silvia Richards, the story follows Arthur Kennedy's frontiersman Vern Haskell as he trawls the West in search of the culprit responsible for the rape and murder of his fiancée. He winds up at a place known as Chuck-a-Luck, a ranch and front for a criminal hideout that is run by smouldering chanteuse Altar Keane {Marlene Dietrich}. Posing as a criminal himself, Haskell hooks up with gunslinger Frenchy Fairmont {Mel Ferrer} and infiltrates the unsavoury mob behind the scenes of the Chuck-a-Luck. But problems arise as both Haskell and Frenchy vie for the attentions of Altar and slowly but surely, as Haskell gets closer to his target, it's evident that he is so torn and twisted by revenge he's become as bad as the villains he now aims to bring down. Reference Fritz Lang, love, betrayal and retribution, cloak them in a decidedly feminist sheen and what you get is Rancho Notorious. That the film is an oddity is something of an understatement, yet it works in a very unique sort of way. The film opens with one of the most god awful title songs used in Westerns, "Legend of Chuck-A-Luck" song by Bill Lee, from then the tune is used at points of reference in the narrative. It seems like a joke song, hell it sounds like a joke song, but within the first quarter of the film a pretty young lady is raped and murdered, Haskell is informed that she "wasn't spared anything," this is completely at odds with the tone that had been set at that time. The Technicolour photography provided by Hal Mohr has a garish sheen to it, this too gives the film a confused feel, most likely the intention there is to convey a sense of gloom as Haskell's bile starts to rise. And then the first sight of Dietrich, astride a man, riding him like a horse in some bizarre barroom contest. All of which points to Lang perhaps being over audacious with his intentions. But he wasn't, and to stay with the film brings many rewards as he revels in the tale of inner turmoil. This ultimately becomes a perfect companion piece to Lang's brilliant film noir the following year, The Big Heat. The similarities between the lead male protagonist and the femme fatale are impossible to cast aside as being mere coincidence. Rest assured Lang was at home with these themes, and cinema fans are the better for it. It was a troubled production tho, one that belies the quality of the final product. Studio head Howard Hughes kept interfering {nothing new there of course}, even taking away control of the editing from the increasingly infuriated Lang. While the relationship between the fiery director and Dietrich broke down to such an extent they stopped talking to each other by the end of the film. Dietrich was troubled by her age at this time, often begging Mohr to work miracles with his photography to convey a more youthful look for the once "Babe of Berlin". Yet she need not of worried for her real life concerns dovetail with that of her character, which in turn gives the film a revelatory performance. With Dietrich backed up by the similarity excellent Kennedy, Rancho Notorious has much class to go with its odd and visionary touches. A different sort of Western to be sure, but most definitely a Fritz Lang baby, this deserves the classic status that is now afforded it. 8/10

Fritz Lang's final western is watchable because of it's strangeness.We start with the nominal hero(Arthur Kennedy)in happy mood with his future wife,who is promptly brutally murdered by two villains,one of whom shoots the other afterwards over an argument over money. Kennedy's thirst for revenge eventually takes him to a ranch run by former showgirl Marlene Dietrich,which is a haven for various killers,bad guys,gunfighters,etc.The man who carried out the brutal killing(Lloyd Gough)is one of the said above,and it takes Kennedy until the film's last few minutes to find out. There are many positive aspects of the film,but as many negative.Lang's moody,Teutonic direction is a major plus here,as are fine performances by Arthur Kennedy and Marlene Dietrich,but others,such as a badly miscast Mel Ferrer,a very dated linking ballad which tends to provoke unintentional derision nowadays,and some highly unconvincing outdoor studio sets made even more so by colour(the film probably would have been more effective in Black and White). One interesting piece of trivia:Lloyd Gough,who plays the brutal killer Kinch,did not receive a credit despite his pivotal role in RANCHO NOTORIOUS.This was because his left-wing politics fell foul of the House Un-American activities Commitee,and RKO boss Howard Hughes.As a result,Gough was blacklisted from Hollywood after this film,and did not appear in another until 15 years later(TONY ROME,1967).

In a small town in the Wyoming, the pacific cowboy Vern Haskell (Arthur Kennedy) and his beloved fiancée Beth Forbes (Gloria Henry) will get married in eight days, and plan their lives living in a ranch of their own in eight years with many children. However, their dream is destroyed when Beth is raped and murdered by an outlaw during a heist in the store of her father. The full of hate Vern follows the trail of the criminal alone, and meets his partner, who was betrayed by the killer and shot on his back, dying in the desert. The bandit tells that his partner is going to Chuck-a-Luck hiding place, but nobody knows where it is. In his journey, Vern learns how to shoot and listens to many stories about the famous Altar Keane (Marlene Dietrich), a woman that worked in many cabarets and made a fortune gambling in a Chuck-a-Luck wheel helped by the hit-man Frenchy Fairmont (Mel Ferrer), the fastest trigger in the west. When Vern finds that Frenchy has just been captured and is arrested in the local jail, he shoots bottles in a bar to be sent to jail. Vern is locked with Frenchy and becomes his friend when he helps the hit-man to escape. They ride to a remote ranch in the border owned by Keane, actually a sanctuary for criminals, where Vern tries to find the murderer and revenge the death of Beth. "Notorious Ranch" is a wonderful tale of hate, murder and revenge. I am not fan of the genre, but this western directed by Fritz Lang tells a solid and credible story, with characters very well-developed and supported by a magnificent cast leaded by Marlene Dietrich, Arthur Kennedy and Mel Ferrer. I only regret the poor quality of image of the Brazilian DVD, which has not been restored. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): "O Diabo Feito Mulher" ("The Devil Like Woman")

60/100. You would think the combination of Lang and Marlene Dietrich would be amazing, but this is my fourth viewing of the film over a 35 year period, and not once was I impressed with this movie. The score is a little overbearing and it just rarely rises above an ordinary western from the 1950's. I was disappointed in the art direction, the sets looked very obvious to me. It's a fair story given an okay treatment. I am in the minority on this one, but the film to me went from one cliché to another. Arthur Kennedy is a bland choice and lacks the fire needed for the role. Certainly it has some good visuals, so at least one of Fritz Lang's trademark touches came through.

I'm not a Marlene Dietrich fan and don't really see Arthur Kennedy as being charismatic enough to interest her, and am not usually keen on background ballads, but I enjoyed this film from beginning to end. Director Fritz Lang keeps the pace lively and brightens up the generally sombre mood with a couple of light-hearted sequences - first the "horse-race" with saloon girls riding cowboys and then the crooked politicians awaiting their fate in gaol. "Variety" Film Guide calls the plot "corny", but it's no more so than many other films of the 1950s, or indeed of any other decade, and it's different to most Westerns of the period. And for those times it's also relatively direct in its treatment of sex; we are left in no doubt that Kennedy's fiancée has been raped and that the man Kennedy suspects of the assault is obviously out for what he can get from women. One is not told how Kennedy acquires his gun-fighting skills - at the beginning a posse member points out his lack of these. The only weakness are a couple of "outdoor" scenes obviously filmed in the studio, where the rock formations are eye-catchingly unrealistic. The acting is generally good, with Kennedy doing well as the grief- stricken hero seeking revenge and Mel Ferrer showing screen-presence as the slightly sinister and somewhat sensitive fast gun.

When I was in school not too many years after this film came out, as I recall vividly, we were taught the evils of totalitarianism (notably of the Communist variety). One of the scariest evils, so we were told, was that people could be made not to exist - not just in the sense of being murdered, but in the sense of being erased even in memory. They did not exist. And they had never existed, even if they had. History books were doctored. Names were whited out of the index. The memory of history changed. That was the great difference between us and them. It could never happen here. We all, patriotic little kids, nodded - not here. Watch this movie and you will see it happen, here. All the characters are played by actors. All except one. One is played by a phantom. He doesn't exist. Of course, he does. He's Lloyd Gough. His character, Kinch, is the central pivot of the entire story, from the first scene. But he has been removed from the cast: no mention of his name. Lloyd Gough and his wife Karen Morley refused to grovel before HUAC and so were blacklisted. He was also erased, retroactively. They couldn't erase his image, because he was in too many and too important scenes. But they could erase his memory. That they did. They didn't blot out his name from the many other films he had played. But they could have. Why not? It's only a short step from one retroactive erasure to many. Not too hard to reshoot the credits of old films. is it? Didn't happen. But it started. Think about that and be scared. Oh, yes, I forgot. We're past that now, just an aberration of the 1950s. Right?

First of all, the word "noir" is thrown around much too carelessly, so let's be clear: This is a Western. Pure and simple. In fact it's a pretty bad Western, really, but somehow it manages to be a lot of fun. You've got Marlene Dietrich a little past her prime with plucked and painted eyebrows that leave her facial expression in a perpetual state of surprise. There's a gunslinger named "Frenchy Fairmont," and a warbly sung narrative song throughout reminding us that this is a tale of murder and revenge. I especially liked the line (I don't remember it exactly) spoken by a doctor who rattles off a list of a cowboy's injuries and sums up by saying, "So, really, he's pretty dead." "Rancho Notorious" isn't one of the genre's better entries, but see it some time just for its entertainment value.

When the film begins, Vern Haskell (Arthur Kennedy) is shown with his fiancé. However, shortly after Vern leaves her store, a thug wanders in to rob the place and then assaults and murders her as well. Vern makes it his life work to track down the killer and punish him, but he has very few clues. Through much of the film, he's on the trail and eventually finds his way to a wanted man, Frenchy Fairmont (Mel Ferrer). He arranges to break Frenchy out of jail...and pretends to be a bad guy in the hope that Frenchy takes him to the rest of the gang and the murderer. Once with the gang, however, like EVERYONE in this film he inexplicably falls for the charms of Altar Keane (Marlene Dietrich)--a woman who runs sort of a hostel for crooks called 'Chuck-A-Luck'. Vern's problem now is what to do...keep on his path of revenge or settle down with Altar and her feminine wiles. While I know a lot of folks love this film, for me it was problematic to watch due to the casting. Like Joan Crawford in "Johnny Guitar", the leading lady (Dietrich) was just too old and unattractive to be portraying such a vivacious and sexy character. Some women are still gorgeous at 51, but, sadly, Dietrich here is just kind of sad playing a sexy siren. This is a severe knock against the film as is the annoying song "Chuck-A-Luck", though otherwise it is well acted, written and directed (by Fritz Lang of all people). Enjoyable but seriously flawed.