Ride in the Whirlwind
by Monte Hellman
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Cameron Mitchell, George Mitchell, Jack Nicholson, Katherine Squire, Millie PerkinsDirector: Monte Hellman
Producer: Jack Nicholson
Writer: Jack Nicholson
Cinematographer: Gregory Sandor
Editor: Monte Hellman
Producer: Monte Hellman
Producer: John Herman Shaner
Producer: Roger Corman
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 82 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-10-31
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: Vci Video
Movie Reviews of Ride in the Whirlwind
Movie Review: Into the Utah whirlwind with Monte Hellman and Jack Nicholson
Summary: 5 Stars
In 1965, Monte Hellman and Jack Nicholson took $150,000 dollars out into the Utah desert and came back with two films, 'The Shooting' and 'Ride in the Whirlwind'. Given that both films were shot back to back, I would have assumed that they would be similar, at least in style if not theme, as Hellman directed and Nicholson had large parts in both, but instead I found them to be very different. So different, that had I not known better, I would thought they'd come from two completely different eras - 'The Shooting' from the nihilistic early 70's and 'Whirlwind' in the lingering last days of the cowboy 50's.
At least at the beginning. 'Whirlwind' looks almost like a cheap John Ford knockoff as it starts out, with Harry Dean Stanton turning in an early Harry Dean Stanton -esque character named Blind Dick who's gang robs a stagecoach and kills one of the guards. After the robbery, the outlaws head for their hideout, and the survivors on the stagecoach head into town and get a vigilante posse together.
Into this mess ride three cowhands headed to Waco. They inadvertantly stumble onto the hideout, and Blind Dick, realizing they are just passing through, lets them bed down outside the hideout shack. In the morning, both parties find themselves surrounded by the vigilante posse, and there's no time for explanations, or sorting out who's who. The posse takes it for granted that everyone's a member of the gang, and the cowhands realize no one would believe them now anyway. Two of them are able to break out and head out on foot in the mountains, pursued by the posse.
Despite their innocence, both of the remaining cowhands are slowly forced to become exactly what the vigilante's think they are as they try to make their escape. By the movie's end, it doesn't seem as much a John Ford western anymore as it does something out of the French New Wave (with spurs).
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised that it was Jack Nicholson's script - but after watching, I am anyway. This is a very intelligent movie, and one that doesn't feel the need to beat the viewer on the head by over-stating plot points or emphasizing the obvious. The actors are allowed to advance the story by their actions and by some very spare but effective dialogue - and the movie speaks for itself.
Whereas 'The Shooting' could come across as garbled or difficult, 'Whirlwind' is a much easier picture to follow along with. Fans of the western will be satisfied, and those who may not normally seek out that particular genre will, I think, also find a very thought provoking picture. The main drawback to this film is the production and film quality, which reflect the sacrifices that a $75,000 budget requires. Personally, I think it was incredible what they accomplished with such limited budgets, but there are some who, I'm sure, will be put off by the cheap look of the film.
I enjoyed both of these films, but I'll give the edge to 'Whirlwind' only because it's intelligent and more accessible than 'The Shooting'. The real shame is that at this time, both these discs are discontinued, and the cost on the second-hand market is pretty severe. Pick them up if you find them cheap, or else rent them, but either way, I'd suggest getting them both at the same time. Together, they make up a unique filmmaking chapter, one that's been ignored too long.
Summary of Ride in the Whirlwind
Three cowhands, between jobs, have the bad dumb luck to pitch night camp in the same valley as a cabin full of guys who just robbed a stagecoach and killed the guard. Come morning, a posse arrives, forms up along the ridge, and takes for granted that everyone down below is guilty--fit for either shooting to bits or hanging from a tree, whichever comes first. Precisely half of Ride in the Whirlwind's 82 minutes is devoted to tapping the matter-of-fact, absurdist horror of that situation. In the remaining half, the two surviving cowpokes (Jack Nicholson and Cameron Mitchell) seek shelter at a farmhouse where they reluctantly threaten the farmer, accept breakfast from his wife, flirt with his daughter (Millie Perkins), play some checkers, and hope to remain undetected till nightfall.Somehow, when people speak of the two existentialist Westerns that Monte Hellman made on a single trek into the desert in 1966, Ride in the Whirlwind never gets as much attention as The Shooting. All right, so it doesn't star Warren Oates (though it does have Harry Dean Stanton, Oates's clear successor as sainted American character actor), and Jack Nicholson's screenplay isn't as infatuated with arty enigma or coffeehouse-quaint dialogue as Adrien Joyce's Shooting script. But of the two, Ride arguably cuts deeper as a meditation on things Western, and it's surely the one that would bring nods of recognition from a Parnassian review board comprised of William S. Hart, Harry Carey, and the various casts of The Virginian.
Unforgettable, unbelievable, yet of course entirely believable Zen moment: H.D. Stanton, mere seconds before holding up the stagecoach, steps behind a rock to take a leak. --Richard T. Jameson
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