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Ride in the Whirlwind
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by Edde Entertainment
Sales Rank: 12358
Price: $9.99
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Three cowhands, between jobs, have the bad dumb luck to pitch night camp in the same valley as a cabin full of guys who just robbed a stagecoach and killed the guard. Come morning, a posse arrives, forms up along the ridge, and takes for granted that everyone down below is guilty--fit for either shooting to bits or hanging from a tree, whichever comes first. Precisely half of <I>Ride in the Whirlwind</I>'s 82 minutes is devoted to tapping the matter-of-fact, absurdist horror of that situation. In the remaining half, the two surviving cowpokes (Jack Nicholson and Cameron Mitchell) seek shelter at a farmhouse where they reluctantly threaten the farmer, accept breakfast from his wife, flirt with his daughter (Millie Perkins), play some checkers, and hope to remain undetected till nightfall.<p> Somehow, when people speak of the two existentialist Westerns that Monte Hellman made on a single trek into the desert in 1966, <I>Ride in the Whirlwind</I> never gets as much attention as <I>The Shooting</I>. All right, so it doesn't star Warren Oates (though it does have Harry Dean Stanton, Oates's clear successor as sainted American character actor), and Jack Nicholson's screenplay isn't as infatuated with arty enigma or coffeehouse-quaint dialogue as Adrien Joyce's <I>Shooting</I> script. But of the two, <I>Ride</I> arguably cuts deeper as a meditation on things Western, and it's surely the one that would bring nods of recognition from a Parnassian review board comprised of William S. Hart, Harry Carey, and the various casts of <I>The Virginian</I>.<p> Unforgettable, unbelievable, yet of course entirely believable Zen moment: H.D. Stanton, mere seconds before holding up the stagecoach, steps behind a rock to take a leak. <I>--Richard T. Jameson</I>
Viewer Reviews
Monte Hellman's RIDE IN THE WHIRLWIND almost always suffers from comparisons to its better-known companion piece, THE SHOOTING. Both were shot over the same 35-day period in the Utah desert, both were produced for Roger Corman, both star Jack Nicholson (RIDE boasts a writing credit as well), and over the years both have become cult classics. But while THE SHOOTING takes the high road into arthouse existentialism -- it's what might have happened if Samuel Beckett had written a Western -- RIDE IN THE WHIRLWIND offers a seemingly more conventional approach to the genre.
Yet RIDE is a terrific film in its own right. Nicholson's script, with its deep feeling for character and place, is one of the finest ever written for a Western, and Hellman's direction brings it to the screen with a minimum of fuss or adornment. The basic plot -- in which three cowboys are caught in the crossfire between a gang of bandits and a gang of vigilantes -- takes several unexpected turns, and demonstrates that even in the late '60s a traditional Western could still shock and surprise audiences.
It might be overstating the case to claim that RIDE is among a handful of truly great Western films. Still, this film is a neglected classic, with plenty to offer Western buffs and casual viewers alike. It deserves rediscovery.
The DVD edition from VCI features adequate if grainy widescreen video, a clear though unexceptional audio transfer, a roundtable commentary, previews of other Monte Hellman films, and an enthusiastic still-frame essay from Quentin Tarantino.
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