Ride, Vaquero!

Last updated

Ride, Vaquero!
Ride Vaquero (1953).jpeg
Original film poster
Directed by John Farrow
Written by Frank Fenton
Produced by Stephen Ames
Starring Robert Taylor
Ava Gardner
Howard Keel
Anthony Quinn
Kurt Kasznar
Ted de Corsia
Cinematography Robert Surtees
Edited by Harold F. Kress
Music by Bronislau Kaper
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • July 15, 1953 (1953-07-15)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,128,000 [1]
Box office$3,427,000 [1]

Ride, Vaquero! is a 1953 American Western film photographed in Ansco Color (print by Technicolor) made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). It was directed by John Farrow and produced by Stephen Ames from a screenplay by Frank Fenton and John Farrow. The music score was by Bronislau Kaper and the cinematography by Robert Surtees.

Contents

The film stars Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Anthony Quinn, and Howard Keel with Kurt Kasznar, Ted de Corsia and Jack Elam. Movita appears uncredited in a small role.

Plot

Mexican bandit Jose Esqueda resents settlers in the Brownsville, Texas region, and conducts raids against them. He threatens to burn down their homes, and has burned down the ranch house King Cameron has just built for his wife Cordelia.

Rio, raised like a brother to Esqueda, joins forces with him at first. But in time he forms a partnership with Cameron instead, and even saves his life, although Cordelia continues not to trust him.

Complications arise when Cordelia's distrust turns to desire. Cameron must save both his property and his marriage after Esqueda goes on a rampage, robbing Brownsville's bank and killing the sheriff.

Shot several times by Esqueda and close to death, Cameron is once again saved by Rio, who confronts Esqueda in a final gunfight. Cameron forgives Cordelia for her feelings toward Rio.

Cast

Production

Parts of the film were shot in Kanab Canyon and Johnson Canyon in Utah. [2]

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $1,834,000 in the US and Canada and $1,593,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $895,000. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ava Gardner</span> American actress (1922–1990)

Ava Lavinia Gardner was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her performance in Robert Siodmak's film noir The Killers. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in John Ford's Mogambo (1953), and for best actress for both a Golden Globe Award and BAFTA Award for her performance in John Huston's The Night of the Iguana (1964). She was a part of the Golden Age of Hollywood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Keel</span> American actor and singer (1919–2004)

Harold Clifford Keel, professionally Howard Keel, was an American actor and singer known for his rich bass-baritone singing voice. He starred in a number of MGM musicals in the 1950s and in the television series Dallas from 1981 to 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Franciosa</span> American actor (1928-2006)

Anthony George Franciosa was an American actor most often billed as Tony Franciosa at the height of his career. He began his career on stage and made a breakthrough portraying the brother of the drug addict in the play A Hatful of Rain, which earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He reprised his role in its subsequent film adaptation, for which he won the 1957 Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actor, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Donlevy</span> American actor (1901–1972)

Waldo Brian Donlevy was an American actor, who was noted for playing dangerous and tough characters. Usually appearing in supporting roles, among his best-known films are Beau Geste (1939), The Great McGinty (1940) and Wake Island (1942). For his role as the sadistic Sergeant Markoff in Beau Geste, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Fleischer</span> American film director (1916–2006)

Richard Owen Fleischer was an American film director whose career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood and lasting through the American New Wave.

<i>The Killers</i> (1946 film) 1946 film

The Killers is a 1946 American film noir starring Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien and Sam Levene. Based in part on the 1927 short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway, it focuses on an insurance detective's investigation into the execution by two professional killers of a former boxer who was unresistant to his own murder. Directed by Robert Siodmak, it featured an uncredited John Huston and Richard Brooks co-writing the screenplay, which was credited to Anthony Veiller. As in many film noir, it is mostly told in flashback.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Farrow</span> Australian film director (1904–1963)

John Villiers Farrow, KGCHS was an Australian film director, producer, and screenwriter. Spending a considerable amount of his career in the United States, in 1942 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for Wake Island, and in 1957 he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Around the World in Eighty Days. He had seven children by his wife, actress Maureen O'Sullivan, including actress Mia Farrow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan Cortina</span> Mexican rancher, politician, outlaw and folk hero (1824–1894)

Juan Nepomuceno Cortina Goseacochea, also known by his nicknames Cheno Cortina, the Red Robber of the Rio Grande and the Rio Grande Robin Hood, was a Mexican rancher, politician, military leader, outlaw and folk hero. He was an important caudillo, military general and regional leader, who effectively controlled the Mexican state of Tamaulipas as governor. In borderlands history he is known for leading a paramilitary mounted Mexican Militia in the failed Cortina Wars. The "Wars" were raids targeting Anglo-American civilians whose settlement Cortina opposed near the several leagues of land granted to his wealthy family on both sides of the Rio Grande. Anglo families began immigrating to the Lower Rio Grande Valley after the Mexican Army was defeated by the Anglo-Mexican rebels of the Mexican State of Tejas, in the Texas Revolution.

The 48th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 1990, were held on January 19, 1991, at the Beverly Hilton. The nominations were announced on December 27, 1990.

<i>The Plainsman</i> 1936 film

The Plainsman is a 1936 American Western film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur. The film presents a highly fictionalized account of the adventures and relationships between Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill Cody, and General George Custer, with a gun-runner named Lattimer as the main villain. The film is notorious for mixing timelines and even has an opening scene with Abraham Lincoln setting the stage for Hickok's adventures. Anthony Quinn has an early acting role as an Indian. A remake using the same title was released in 1966.

<i>Knights of the Round Table</i> (film) 1953 film by Richard Thorpe

Knights of the Round Table is a 1953 British adventure historical film made by MGM in England and Ireland. Directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman, it was the first film in CinemaScope made by the studio. The screenplay was by Talbot Jennings, Jan Lustig and Noel Langley from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, first published in 1485 by William Caxton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">22nd Golden Globe Awards</span>

The 22nd Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 1964, were held on February 8, 1965.

<i>All the Brothers Were Valiant</i> 1953 film by Richard Thorpe

All the Brothers Were Valiant is a 1953 Technicolor adventure drama film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Richard Thorpe. The film's screenplay was written by Harry Brown and based on the 1919 novel All the Brothers Were Valiant by Ben Ames Williams. The music score was led by Miklós Rózsa and the cinematography by George J. Folsey.

<i>Valley of the Kings</i> (film) 1954 film by Robert Pirosh

Valley of the Kings is a 1954 American Eastmancolor adventure film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was written and directed by Robert Pirosh from a screenplay by Robert Pirosh and Karl Tunberg, "suggested by historical data" in the book Gods, Graves and Scholars by C. W. Ceram. The music was by Miklós Rózsa and the cinematography by Robert Surtees.

<i>Jupiters Darling</i> 1955 film by George Sidney

Jupiter's Darling is a 1955 American Eastman Color musical romance film released by MGM and directed by George Sidney filmed in CinemaScope. It starred Esther Williams as the Roman woman Amytis, Howard Keel as Hannibal, the Carthaginian military commander and George Sanders as Fabius Maximus, Amytis's fiancé. In the film, Amytis helps Hannibal swim the Tiber River to take a closer look at Rome's fortifications.

<i>Show Boat</i> (1951 film) 1951 film by George Sidney, Roger Edens

Show Boat is a 1951 American musical romantic drama film, based on the 1927 stage musical of the same name by Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II, and the 1926 novel by Edna Ferber. It was made by MGM, adapted for the screen by John Lee Mahin, produced by Arthur Freed and directed by George Sidney.

<i>Sombrero</i> (film) 1953 film

Sombrero is a 1953 American musical romance film directed by Norman Foster and starring Ricardo Montalbán, Pier Angeli, Vittorio Gassman and Cyd Charisse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Texas Rio Grande Valley</span> Public university in Texas, U.S.A.

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) is a public research university with multiple campus throughout the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas. It is the southernmost member of the University of Texas System. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 after the consolidation of the University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College and the University of Texas–Pan American.

<i>Dragoon Wells Massacre</i> 1957 film by Harold D. Schuster

Dragoon Wells Massacre is a 1957 American CinemaScope DeLuxe Color Western film directed by Harold D. Schuster starring Barry Sullivan, Dennis O'Keefe, Mona Freeman and Katy Jurado. The supporting cast features Sebastian Cabot, Jack Elam and Hank Worden.

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. D'Arc, James V. (2010). When Hollywood came to town: a history of moviemaking in Utah (1st ed.). Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith. ISBN   9781423605874.