Monte Hellman - Ride in the Whirlwind (1965)

Synopsis:

Director Monte Hellman and writer-star Jack Nicholson filmed this western simultaneously with The Shooting (1967). Nicholson stars as Wes, cowpuncher pal to Vern (Cameron Mitchell) and Otis (Tom Filer), who have all been hired as hands for a cattle roundup. En route to their new jobs, the men come across the handiwork of a lynch mob. Later, they find hospitality at the home of Blind Dick (Harry Dean Stanton), who graciously provides them with food and shelter. The cowboys are unaware that Blind Dick and his men recently robbed a stagecoach and murdered the driver.


When director Monte Hellman and pal Jack Nicholson set off for Utah in early 1965 to make a pair of movies for producer Roger Corman, Ride in the Whirlwind, written by Nicholson, is the only one they had originally intended to make. While more straightforward than its companion film The Shooting, it's no less political.

Nicholson gives an amazingly subtle (for him) performance. Cameron Mitchell, usually a role player, often in Westerns, probably does the best acting of his life as a man haunted by how quickly his life has gone down the tubes. Of the pair of films Hellman and Nicholson made together Ride In the Whirlwind is actually both more traditional and more nihilistic than The Shooting. Each film is arguably among the best Westerns ever made. It's ironic that between Hellman, Sergio Leone, and Sam Peckinpah, some of the finest examples of the form were made as the genre seemed to be in its death throws. As Hellman's reputation has grown due to Two-Lane Blacktop and Cockfighter, a new audience is ready to embrace his other films. If they're looking for greatness, this film is at the top of the list. – Ron Wells, FilmThreat

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I love both The Shooting and Ride In the Whirlwind, but if I had to choose one as my favorite it would be Ride In The Whirlwind. The image quality is nice on this Director's Restored DVD but it was a bitch to encode. I eventually had to re-author it because the IFO kept crashing autogk.

Also included in MP3 format is the audio commentary featuring Monte Hellman, Millie Perkins and Dennis Bartok of "The American Cinematheque."

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