They are a template for the Indiana Jones model, heroes who can’t catch a break. Yet, their heavy sense of helpless, and their perpetual struggle in the face of it nonetheless, are what sets Rawhide apart. And Hayward’s heroine, as memorable as she is, doesn’t lag far behind in either department. Yes, it’s true that Power’s “hero” proves ineffectual, if ever-noble. Without apprehension, I openly wonder why Rawhide isn’t more readily known, discussed, and appreciated. Control is an elusive illusion for these characters, but never for the filmmakers, who prove themselves crafty to the last.Ĭonsider this an official advocation for “ Rawhide”‘s canonization alongside the Great Westerns that will be remembered for all time. In that sense, Rawhide succeeds entirely on the basis of subverting classic expectations while still charging forward. Tom and Vinnie’s situation is detailed in more of a real-world way, where escape from oppressive situations is never as simple as it may seem, and the “get out of jail free” card doesn’t exist. Power and villain Hugh Marlowe in RAWHIDE.Īudience members prone to the “Why don’t they just…?” habit of film watching will realize that although it is an adventure Western, Rawhide is not that movie. We are willing prisoners of Hathaway and Nichols.) #Rawhide the long count run time movie#(Is it any coincidence that our single location, Rawhide Station, resembles a fortified jailhouse? We too cannot escape this nail-biting situation, short of turning the movie off. Even a carefully cultivated escape plan, necessary once the film shifts into more of a prison film, seems nothing more than a valiant, desperate attempt. In that sense, Rawhide is frustratingly, terrifically “realistic”. Nichols is careful to establish “outs” for our heroes – a forgotten pistol, secret notes, a knife – only to undercut those possibilities at every turn. Vinnie, locked in his bedroom with the child, mistaken for his wife and daughter, are a perceived ace in the hole.īut Rawhide doesn’t so much unspool as tightly wind itself. When a small cadre of murderous bandits arrive at Rawhide, and forcibly take it over, Tom finds himself in what we’d recognize as a Die Hard situation: a lone hero against a carefully defined group of terrorists that are led by an evil, calculating mastermind (Hugh Marlowe). Tyrone Power greets Susan Hayward in RAWHIDE. #Rawhide the long count run time series#(And, I should add, of no relation to the later, long-running television series with the famous theme song of the same name.) Thanks to a crazy-taut screenplay by ace film scribe Dudley Nichols (who found great success redefining and resurrecting the Western with 1939’s Stagecoach, the film that gave the world John Wayne in his youthful persona) and consistent, spot-on direction by veteran filmmaker Henry Hathaway (who would go on, decades later, to make True Grit, a defining film for the aging, end-of-career Wayne), Rawhide is an unforgettably intense and wholly satisfying experience. “Rawhide” belongs on the shelf of every Western fan.Īnd before long, there’s plenty of distress to go around. This is, at least by 1951 standards, a progressive equal rights movie: Whatever distress Vinnie finds herself in, Tom finds himself in, equally. As notoriously “feisty” as ever, Hayward’s character Vinnie proves to be more than a pretty face, or damsel in distress. (A refreshing admission that clean cut matinee idols and “authentic Old West” don’t mix.) His leading man looks go unnoticed by an all-business Susan Hayward, with a toddler in tow. Tom’s dapper nature (shaving? Who does he think he is, Cary Grant?) is explained as a built-in character trait, the mark of a man perhaps not cut out for this business. It’s a humble outpost, away from civilization and w orked by an aging, gruff cowpoke Sam (Edgar Buchanan) and his grown learner, Tom Owens, played by a too-dapper-for-the-Old-West Tyrone Power. “San Francisco to St.Louis in 25 days, for $200 – beans included! It’s the Overland Mail! Next stop… Rawhide Station!”Ĭirca 1861, Rawhide is one of many such stops on the perilous journey into America’s Midwest so we’re told. STREET DATE: August 2, 2016/Kino Lorber Studio Classics
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