Fri 12 Feb 2010
A Western Review by Dan Stumpf: LUKE SHORT – Ramrod (Book & Film).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western Fiction , Western movies[5] Comments
RAMROD. United Artists, 1947. Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Don DeFore, Donald Crisp, Preston Foster, Arleen Whelan. Charles Ruggles, Lloyd Bridges. Screenplay: Jack Moffitt, Graham Baker & Cecile Kramer, based on the novel by Luke Short. Director: Andre de Toth.
LUKE SHORT – Ramrod. Macmillan, hardcover, 1943. Paperback reprints include: Popular Library 114, 1946; Popular Library 792, 1953; Bantam, 1977; Dell, 1992.
Ramrod (UA, 1947) was the second noir Western, following RKO’s Pursued into release by two months, and it’s an all-around faster-moving thing, filled with shoot-outs, bar-fights, stampedes and chases, yet still dark and moody enough to rank solidly in the noir class.
In conjunction with watching this, I took a look at the 1943 novel on which it’s based. Luke Short (real name Frederick Glidden) deals out his tale with a punchy prose style and generally fast pace, though he sometimes gets bogged down in details he ought to just ride around.
What pulls the book out of the ordinary though, is his feel for character and how it shapes the plot. Ramrod starts up with a face-off between two ranchers motivated/manipulated by a woman who wants to get out of the fate her father has planned for her.
When the face-off falls through, she falls back on the help of a disgraced cowboy trying to redeem himself — the eponymous Ramrod of the outfit — leading to Range War and the shoot-outs, bar-fights, stampedes, chases, et al.
Three writers adapted this into a movie that stays remarkably close to the book, even down to details and dialogue, but it took a director like Andre de Toth to turn it into something really special. De Toth shows a feel for character equal to Short’s, but he evokes it visually; as the cowboy seeking redemption, Joel McCrea seems to be always climbing something (stairs, hillsides, porches…) as the perfect visual metaphor for his quest.
Veronica Lake’ s cowgirl-fatale is photographed in sharp-focus, emphasizing her hard-edged drive, while the lesser characters — Preston Foster’s ruthless rancher, Charlie Ruggles’ well-meaning father and especially Don DeFore as McCrae’ s shifty partner — all come across surprisingly real. De Toth also has a flair for brutality suited to noir and a feel for pace perfect for the Western, a combination you just can’t beat.
February 12th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
A good film and book. Several of Short’s books made good noirish films, notably BLOOD ON THE MOON and STATION WEST. The books, which went from the pulps to the slicks, tend to be short punchy and sharply written with a touch of solid mystery style plotting often hidden under the western cover. FIRST CAMPAIGN is a tough western political novel that Hammett might have admired.
In the film I also admired the use of Don DeFore playing a role that was different than his usual light hearted stalwart side kick role. That and Lake as a very fatale femme gave the film an added touch of noir sensibility. As for McCrea, he always added a touch of class to his westerns, stalwart, but with a suggestion of something darker lurking beneath the simple cowpoke hero.
February 13th, 2010 at 1:17 am
Joel McCrea has recently become one of my favorite film actors, whether in comedies, westerns, or crime films, especially those with a noirish tinge.
He seems relaxed and at home in any of them, but as you say, David, always with a hint that there’s something behind the character he’s playing that he’s not showing.
Westerns and noir have been discussed on this blog before, of course, with one post devoted entirely to the subject: https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=750
For other relevant posts, go to the Search Box somewhere in the right-hand margin, and type in the two words, ‘western’ and ‘noir.’
— Steve
February 13th, 2010 at 1:24 am
I also meant to say, but I forgot, that as much as I like Max Brand’s westerns, I think Luke Short’s are better. Better written and not so romantic. More realistic? I’d have to say so.
KING COLT was, I believe, the first western novel I ever read — this would have been a Dell paperback around 1953 or so — and it knocked my socks off, especially the ending.
That’s all I remember, though — not even what the ending was!
— Steve
February 13th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
I agree about Short in regard to Brand. I like Brand, but there are things that annoy me too little quirks that he gave into all too often, and of course he didn’t give a hoot for history or detail. His westerns might start out in contemporary Chicago or New York and then like a B western move to a west that was mostly still in the 1880’s save for a few telephones and cars. His cowpokes were as likely to carry .45 automatics as Peacemakers.
Short really wrote very well, and I think if he had written mystery or suspense instead of westerns he might have gained more respect as a writer. But he did well enough, his books serialized in the SATURDAY EVENING POST among other slicks, and often optioned by Hollywood. He was certainly a major force in paperback.
Good as RAMROD is Short’s BLOOD ON THE MOON may be the best noir western ever made.
A friend of mine met Joel McCrea when the Cowboy Hall of Fame opened here in OKC. He spotted McCrea and another older man coming out of the elevator and told his buddy he was going to ask for McCrea’s autograph.
McCrea was gracious and friendly, but the whole time he and the older companion kept looking at my friend a bit oddly. Finally when they walked off my friend returned to his buddy.
“Wow,” he said. “Can you believe it. I got Joel McCrea’s autograph.”
“Yeah,”his buddy said. “And what are the odds he would have been coming out of the elevator with Walter Brennan.”
February 19th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
[…] years after Ramrod (reviewed here ), director Andre de Toth did it again. Columbia’s Man in the Saddle (1951) is based very […]