Justin Easton
There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
Casey Duggan
It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
Kirandeep Yoder
The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
dbdumonteil
More a psychological drama than a western ;fans of action-packed stories will not get something out of it.The enemy remains in the wings ,and anyway Chris's worst enemy is neither the Indians nor unlucky outlaw Bob .It's his own self.This ride back is actually an initiatory journey .This sheriff is a complete washout and the capture of Bob could be his only claim-to-fame .All along the way ,he learns that the "villain" is (and has) anything he longs for: the scenes in the Mexican village may seem filler,but they are crucial:we are told that a woman is attached to this bandit ,but that he has also found a place where he is loved :that's what the priest tries to explain to Chris but it's too soon :he is not ready to accept his own reality : he has never been able to love anybody ,and to be loved ,he has lost his will to live .When they discover the dead bodies ,he is not even able to show some compassion and it's the outlaw who urges him to bury them.It's only when they meet the survivor that the marshal realizes that your life is not wretched when you help your fellow man, with nothing in return.Anthony Quinn's Bob's moral fiber is constantly growing ,as long as the movie progresses.Both him and William Conrad give restrained performances which go straight to the heart.
MartinHafer
"The Ride Back" is a very unusual movie. While William Conrad did appear in various films in the 1940s and 50s, he almost exclusively played bit parts--and mostly heavies (not joke intended). However, here in this film he plays the lead (although Anthony Quinn got top billing). This is because although Conrad was NOT a handsome leading man sort, his voice was golden---and he played Marshall Dillon on the radio version of "Gunsmoke". And, "The Ride Back" is one of the episodes of the radio series brought to the screen and Conrad produced this film.The movie begins with Eddie Albert (yes, THAT Eddie Albert) singing the title song. It isn't really very good, but it is Albert! Sheriff Chris Hamish (Conrad) has entered Mexico with an extradition order for Bob Kallen (Quinn). Quinn is a wanted man and he's not about to come along quietly and repeatedly tries to escape. To make things worse (and a bit silly), Hamish knows almost no Spanish--a major problem in completing his task. Another problem is that Hamish isn't exactly as pragmatic as I'd be in this situation. If I was in Mexico and alone back in the days of the old west, I'd just shoot the prisoner (either to kill or maim) and bring him back that way. Oddly, he isn't that sort of guy--and that does effect the realism of the film. If you want to know what ultimately happens, see the movie.I would say that "The Ride Back" is a mixed bag. The plot makes little sense (just shoot the guy!!) but the acting is quite nice. Quinn and Conrad both were quite good here--and made a mediocre plot better than it should have been.
LeonLouisRicci
In the Budd Boetticher, Anthony Mann tradition this is one of those Westerns from the 1950's that can be cited as apart from the rest. A welcome change from the usual and the tired, endless stream of the eras most popular genre, both at the Movies and on the small screen.You know you are in for something unconventional when there is an impressionistic scene using a surreal backdrop and baroque angles at the beginning. The composition shots throughout are not as striking, but still impressive, as things settle in on characters and psychological themes.It is a dialog driven diversion from standard outdoor stuff and all of the major characters seem real and flawed (even the horse gets a limp). The use of realism is unsettling and adds tension and tightness to the story. Witness the Mexican speech without subtitles and the pursuing Indians who are never shown in close-up. These techniques are used to be unnerving and it works well.Don't be put off by the title song over the credits that uses its lyrics to lay out the plot (in the end too). This was one of those dated, signature events that at the time no one saw as corny or as irritating and dated as they play today. There isn't anything else that feels dated in this intelligent, insightful, and off beat Movie.
classicsoncall
Strictly as a matter of timing, I was struck by the very opening sequence in which a young boy runs across a dusty Western street with a gun going 'bang, bang' at an imaginary outlaw. As I write this, the nation is undergoing a raucous debate over proposed new and stricter gun control laws following the Newtown, Connecticut massacre, and the media is filled with numerous stories of kids as young as five years old getting reprimanded or suspended from school for doing the same thing, sometimes for just pointing a finger to simulate a pistol. If the kid in the picture did that today, he'd probably be arrested for sure.You know, teaming William Conrad and Anthony Quinn was an interesting casting choice. It looks like they should have been in each other's role, such is their influence on supporting characters. The charismatic and good looking Kallen (Quinn) is supposed to be the bad guy, and the sweaty, bloated Hamish is the lawman. That dynamic is neatly explored in the second half of the story as the duo comes under Apache attack and rescue a young girl who lost her parents to the savages. Hamish confesses his insecurities and failures in life to Kallen, and even though Kallen has ample opportunity to make his getaway a number of times, he's developed an understanding and trust in the sheriff to get a fair trial for a murder back in the States.The film runs a compact seventy nine minutes and makes use of crisp black and white photography that's made even more cinematic whenever Lita Milan hits the screen as Kallen's Mexican firebrand fiancée. I would swear that Ellen Hope Monroe looks like she might have grown up to become some famous movie star (resemblance to Lee Meriwether?), but in checking the credits, she only made one other picture, and that one, "The Black Orchid", had Anthony Quinn in the lead role as well. She really didn't have that much to do here except look vulnerable, but as far as that goes, she made it work.
