Saddle the Wind

source: Saddle the Wind

Trailer—Saddle the Wind

Saddle the Wind

What makes this western "special," is that it appears to follow the traditional lines of the genre: reformed gunfighter tries to deter his wild, younger brother from following in his path. Younger brother's fiancée attracted to elder brother: Local area dominated by powerful cattle baron. It diverts from the norm however by the reformed gunfighter refusing to revert to his violent ways, even under extreme provocation, the attraction between the fiancée and the elder brother remaining obvious but unspoken and most notably, by the the powerful cattle baron being entirely non-stereotypical. This one,is dignified and committed to non- violence and fair-mindedness. If that makes it sound like a boring western, it isn't. The acting, script and direction are first class and make it one of the better westerns of that generation.

This is the classic Western as it is just one of the millions of different stories of the old West but similar to all of them. You get a glimpse of the lifestyles, the risks and the rewards and yes the law was settled by gun-play until it was not. This Western has it all. Gunfights, horses, cattle, bar, whiskey, a love interest with a backstory and of course heroes and villain. Great emotional scenes that just push and pull on you too making it a must see for the viewer so you can be entertained. All the actors are at the top of their game too. Scenery is beautiful and one can easily imagine how pleasant it was to live this simple and rewarding life as the seasons changed. Nice song in the opening credits and later on too. Listen to the words for they are well chosen. Nice ending with good closure. Recommend a dinner meal with tasty drink followed by a good snack for the maximum viewing enjoyment. Saddle up, mount up, ride and then call it a night...

The only western written by Rod Serling and has a cast that includes Robert Taylor, John Cassavetes and Donald Crisp. Taylor and Cassavetes are brothers who live on Crisp's land and Cassavetes brings home a wife, played by Julie London, and everyone is surprised Cassavetes wants to get married. Taylor is a former gunfighter and when Cassavetes get a gun for the first time he winds up killing a man who was looking to kill Taylor. Cassavetes thinks he is top man around the ranch now and has an itchy trigger finger. Things get really bad when Royal Dano and his family move onto the land and want to put up a fence and things turn violent. It's a pretty good western that was written by Rod Serling.