Man in the Saddle (1951)

Director: Andre De Toth

Cast: Randolph Scott, Joan Leslie, Ellen Drew

Synopsis: A wounded rancher hides with a schoolmarm after his ex-girlfriend’s husband runs him out of town.

The Man in the Saddle is an action-packed western based around a very ordinary love triangle plot that doesn’t really hold the attention. Perhaps Andre de Toth, realising how average the storyline was, decided the only way to redeem the picture was to fill it with fights – both gun and fist – every few minutes (including one fist-fight that literally brings the house down). Well, if he did, he was reasonably successful, because this movie is a fair time-passer. Randolph Scott (Roberta, The Bounty Hunter), never the most charismatic of stars, sleepwalks through the picture, and Frank Sully (The Grapes of Wrath, Along Came Jones) as the comic relief is embarrassing. Only Alexander Knox and Richard Rober (Call Northside 777, The Well) as bad guy and henchman look as if they’re really putting any effort into the proceedings. Watchable, but instantly forgettable.

(Reviewed 13th May 2002)