Rattled by the rush.
This is a spectacular Western. I can easily see a day coming when Andre DeToth's star will be in the ascendant, and Boetticher's will have fallen into oblivion.

I recently saw almost all of Boetticher's westerns with Randolph Scott in a local theater, and you could tell people wanted to chuckle at all the "A man could do this" and "A man can do that" dialogue, but somehow had convinced themselves they were watching high art. But isn't Boetticher's macho code a form of paganism, of a self-serving survival of the fittest philosophy? Nowhere is this more apparent than in Seven Men From Now, where Gail Russell's husband is considered some sort of eunuch just because he's a nice guy, and he has to get shot in the back to prove his manhood. Then Randolph gets his girl, of course.

Andre DeToth's westerns are no different, meaning they also take place in a pagan world, except that through savvy highlighting and exaggeration, DeToth pushes the sex and violence of the genre into the forefront, forcing them on your attention and making them seem unheroic and ignoble. DeToth has a very distinctive style that is almost like a Bresson film on fast-forward -- the delivery of lines is near-robotic, the angles seem canted and off-kilter even when they're not, character is always in flux, and so is nature. What this does is create a world where events fly by almost too fast for the characters to process, yet this doesn't stop them from being sure of their goals, which upon reflection, would seem insane.

"If you're still thinking of Laurie, you're gonna get yourself killed!" one of Randolph's friends says before the final showdown. "My mind's clear," Randolph replies. The irony of this is that his mind is never clear. His battles make no sense. Ostensibly he's trying to start trouble with Alexander Knox, the biggest rancher in the territory, because Joan Leslie has left him for Knox and money. But -- SPOILERS AHEAD -- even after his nemesis is dead and Joan Leslie has forever severed ties with him, he still keeps fighting, like a clockwork toy that has been wound-up to go on forever.

Leslie herself is driven entirely by her own mercurial loins, fluctuating between Scott and Knox constantly. She's not worth killing a beetle over, let alone another human. In one scene she proudly escapes Knox's ranch by intimidating one of his henchmen with her expert marksmanship, but DeToth cleverly mutes the proto-feminist aspect of this. Considering that this woman is about as stable as the San Andreas faultline, the idea of her with a gun is about as appealing as Hilary Clinton with her finger on the button. Usually films with strong female heroines are seen as ahead of their time, but this one seems much closer to the truth, to me, of their fickle and mutable character, and how almost of all of human progress and aspiration is built on men beating each other senseless over their whims.

DeToth's direction throughout creates such an impression of unstoppable momentum and speed that you almost want to rush in there and start shooting yourself. And that is exactly the point. "Sitting on my porch night after night was getting boring anyway," Scott says, shortly before blowing a million holes in a cabin full of outlaws. Boredom is the enemy of all these people, their real fear, the shadow that stalks them and which they'll sell their souls to avoid. The paradoxical moral of this exhilarating movie, then, is just this -- in boredom lies salvation.

"Man in the Saddle (1951) ... Randolph Scott ... Columbia Pictures Classic Westerns"
Columbia Pictures presents "MAN IN THE SADDLE" (1951) (87 mins/Color) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Starring Randolph Scott, Joan Leslie, Ellen Drew, Alexander Knox & John Russell. --- Directed by André De Toth and released in December 2, 1951, our story line and film, A rancher is forced to stand by as his girl friend is lured away by a wealthy neighboring rancher. When the neighbor is killed, Scott is accused of the murder, and must clear himself. After a blood-spattered fistfight with a gunslinger and several gun battles, Scott consoles himself with schoolteacher Ellen Drew. Based on a novel by Ernest Haycox, Man in the Saddle was the first of the lucrative collaborations between star Randolph Scott and producer Harry Joe Brown --- some of the stand outs of the film: seeing "Tennessee" Ernie Ford without a mustache singing "Man in the Saddle"; Alfonso Bedoya's too brief scenes as a cook; the color photography of the high country, and the fight scene there with John Russell --- Randy Scott's a 'peaceable man' in the tradition of Wild Bill Elliott, but don't provoke him you'll soon see the other side of the coin --- It becomes an open war after Richard Rober kills brothers Camerone Mitchell and Richard Crane who work for Scott, then everything breaks loose.

Under André De Toth (Director), Harry Joe Brown (Producer), Kenneth Gamet (Screenwriter), Ernest Haycox (Book Author), Charles Lawton (Cinematographer), George Duning (Composer (Music Score), Charles Nelson (Editor), George Brooks (Art Director) - - - - the cast includes Randolph Scott (Owen Merritt), Joan Leslie (Laure Bidwell), Ellen Drew (Nan Melotte), Alexander Knox (Will Isham), Richard Rober (Fay Dutcher), John Russell (Hugh Clagg), Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (Bourke Prine), Alfonso Bedoya (Cultus Charley), Clem Bevans (Pay Lankershim), Cameron Mitchell (George Virk), Richard Crane (Juke Virk), Frank Sully (Lee Repp), George Lloyd (Tom Croker), Frank S. Hagney (Ned Bale), Don Beddoe (Love Bidwell), Grant Withers, Tennessee Ernie Ford, James Kirkwood (Sheriff Medary) - - - - Randy Scott had a quiet gentleman nature about him which is not seen in the films of today ... Randy took his job and his responsibility to his audience very seriously ,,, would not settle for anything less than his best ... same was true in his personal life.

SPECIAL FEATURES BIOS:
1. Randolph Scott (aka: George Randolph Scott)
Date of birth: 23 January 1898 - Orange County, Virginia
Date of death: 2 March 1987 - Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California

Special footnote, George Randolph Scott better known as Randolph Scott, was an American film actor whose career spanned the sound era from the late 1920s to the early 1960s ... his popularity grew in the 1940s and 1950s, appearing in such films as "Gung Ho"! (1943) and "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (1938); but he was especially famous for his numerous Westerns including "Virginia City" (1940) with Errol Flynn and Humphrey Bogart, "Western Union" (1941) with Robert Young and "Ride the High Country" (1962) with Joel McCrea (a coin was flipped to see whether Scott or McCrea would receive top billing, and Scott won despite having a slightly smaller role) ... his long fistfight with John Wayne in "The Spoilers" (1942) was frequently cited by critics and the press as the most thrilling ever filmed; they were fighting over Marlene Dietrich ... another smash hit film together that same year called "Pittsburgh" (1942) once again with Dietrich, Scott and Wayne --- Daniel Webster defines "Legend", as being a notable person, or the stories told about that person exploits --- well by the time Randolph Scott made his best films he had long established himself as a legend in the film industry --- they say practice makes perfect, if that is true by 1958 at 60 years of age he was the master with these oaters from the 50s ... "The Cariboo Trail" (1950), "The Nevadan" (1950), "Colt .45" (1950), "Santa Fe" (1951), "Sugarfoot" (1951), "Fort Worth" (1951), "Man in the Saddle" (1951), "Carson City" (1952), "The Man Behind the Gun" (1952), "Hangman's Knot" (1952), "Thunder over the Plains" (1953), "The Stranger Wore a Gun" (1953), "Ten Wanted Men" (1954), "Riding Shotgun" (1954), "The Bounty Hunter" (1954), "Rage at Dawn" (1955), "Tall Man Riding" (1955), "A Lawless Street" (1955), "Seven Men from Now" (1956), "Seventh Cavalry" (1956), "Decision at Sundown: (1957), "Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend" (1957), "The Tall T" (1957), "Buchanan Rides Alone" (1958), "Ride Lonesome" (1959), "Westbound" (1959), "Comanche Station" (1960) --- Scott's age seemed to matter little, they only came to see another Randolph Scott film and always got their money's worth --- Scott's films were good and getting better becoming classics --- so if you wonder "What Ever Happened To Randolph Scott", just rent or purchase one of his films and you'll see he's never left us.

2. Joan Leslie
Date of Birth: 26 January 1925 - Detroit, Michigan
Date of death: Still Living

3. Ellen Drew (aka: Esther Loretta Ray)
Date of Birth: 23 November 1915 - Kansas City, Missouri
Date of Death: 3 December 2003 - Palm Desert, California

4. John Russell
Date of Birth: 3 January 1921 - Los Angeles, California
Date of Death: 19 January 1991 - Los Angeles, California

5. Alfonso Bedoya
Date of Birth: 16 April 1904 - Vicam, Sonora, Mexico
Date of Death: 15 December 1957 - Mexico City, Mexico.

6 André De Toth (aka: Sâsvari Farkasfawi Tóthfalusi Toth Endre Antai Mihály) (Director)
Date of Birth: 15 May 1912 - Makó, Csongrád, Hungary, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]
Date of Death: 27 October 2002 - Burbank, California

Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc), Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") and Trevor Scott (Down Under Com) as they have rekindled my interest once again for Film Noir, B-Westerns and Serials --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns ... order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out VCI Entertainment where they are experts in releasing B-Westerns and Serials --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 87 min on DVD ~ Sony Home Video ~ (8/06/1996)

All action colorful Randolph Scott western from 1951
MAN IN THE SADDLE was the first of six westerns that Hungarian director Andre de Toth made with veteran western star Randolph Scott. No quite up to Scott's later collaboration with Bud Boetticher, which commenced in 1956 with the marvellous SEVEN MEN FROM NOW. Nevertheless, MAN IN THE SADDLE is a very worthy contribution to the genre. This film also marked the first teaming of producer Harry Joe Brown, with Randolph Scott as associate producer and was known as a SCOTT-BROWN PRODUCTION.

The story was from a novel of the same name by Ernest Haycox. Owen Merritt (Scott) had lost his sweetheart Laurie (Joan Leslie) to local cattle baron Will Isham (Alexander Knox) Isham tries to buy out all the local ranchers by fair means or foul. Merritt resists being drawn into a fight for Laurie or over Isham's land grabbing venture fearing that it will be taken for sour grapes. Plenty of action on the way to the final showdown with Scott assisted by his ranch hands and close-neighbour Nan Melotte (Ellen Drew). The film is memorable for its wonderful night-time photography and a marvellous extended fight in a mountain shack between Merritt and Hugh Clagg (John Russell), which really did "bring the house down". Tennessee Ernie Ford makes a brief appearance and sings the title song. High quality transfer to DVD

Man in the Saddle 1951
In MAN IN THE SADDLE we see Randolph Scott (1898-1987) in a archetypal role as Owen Merritt , a man of few words , inerring aim and unbreakable principes , who swallow his pride when the woman he loves marries for wealth . But when her wildly jealous husband vows to ruin Merritts Ranch , Merritt strikes back . A Satisfying combination of action , Romance and breathtaking high-desert scenery , MAN IN THE SADDLE also featured Tennesse Ernie Ford (1919-1991) in a rare movie appearance . Great plot and wonderful outdore scenery and Randolph Scott..what more do you need ! . High Qualty digital transfer . Recommended

It's a Randolph Scott film........
...what more do you need? Scott does what he does best in this above average western made with high production values and a touch of angst. Good classic supporting cast and good locations as well as excellent direction make this oater stand alone and stand out in Scott's film's from the 50's.Good,clear DVD issue make this a must.