Tall in the Saddle: Edwin L. Marin

It is said that Peter Bogdanovich once mentioned to Orson Welles that he had seen Touch of Evil (1958) four or five times before he even noticed the story.  The reason, he explained, was that he was so enamored with the direction that he couldn't focus on the actual plot. I feel much the same way after viewing Edwin L. Marin's Tall in the Saddle.  Only, instead of being captivated by the direction, I was mesmerized by the performances. If there is a plot to Tall in the Saddle, as I'm sure there is, then I entirely missed it. I was much too focused on the actors' various mannerisms and the tight, terse screenplay by Paul Fix and Michael Hogan.  Central to this film is the indomitable presence of John Ford as Rocklin, a cynical, no-nonsense ranch hand. Rocklin is openly misogynistic, delivering lines like, "I never feel sorry for anything that happens to a woman." It's obvious that some woman has gone and done him wrong in the past, but Rocklin isn't talking. He arrives in a small town to take over as foreman for a local ranch only to discover that its owner had been murdered weeks before his arrival. Furthermore, it seems that the new owner of the ranch, Clara Cardell, is being swindled from her inheritance. So, begrudgingly, Rocklin helps solve the murder and stop to plot to rob Clara. But as I said, I was too busy admiring the acting and dialogue to really pay attention to the story.  I most clearly remember tiny vignettes scattered throughout the film. One of my favorites is when Rocklin is cheated during a poker game in a hotel and calmly walks upstairs to his room. One of the other players tells the cheater that he had better give Rocklin his money back because he's "the kind of man who would come back downstairs." And almost on cue Rocklin slowly, deliberately walks down the stairs, stares the cheater in the face, and tells him to give him his money back. It's an astoundingly powerful scene. Another one of my favorites is when Arly Harolday, the sister of the poker cheat, is tricked into trying to get his money back. She confronts Rocklin in the street and shoots at him. But Rocklin just flat out ignores her and walks straight to the saloon under a hail of angry gunfire. This won't be the only time that I watch Tall in the Saddle. The screenplay is too rich and the acting too superb to warrant only one viewing.

8/10