Excellent, a Must See

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

It seems that all the comments here are somewhat ordinary, and miss some of the fantastically extraordinary touches of de Toth. True the western drags in places, but there are moments that only a director of the quality of de Toth can create. His humor was always very sly, here no exception. For another instance look at the way he handles Gary Cooper in Springfield Rifle. But back to the case in point. Near the start Scott and Williams are about to leave and this 75 year old lady comes through the door carrying a bundle and says, excuse me gentlemen. Look at it carefully and you will see it is a fantastic grace note, and very funny. Then look at the way Scott is rolling a cigarette when Isham pulls up, talks over his shoulder etc. Also why does Clagg break a stick to get Ellen Drews attention coming up the hill? Its almost perverse and never explained. Then the end in as good a dust storm as was ever filmed short of the one in Treasure of Sierra Madre. And saving the best for last, the fight scene between Scott and Clagg, is simply stupendous. Over quickly, very real, tense, the long roll down the hill, etc. It may be the best single fight ever on the screen. These alone raise de Toth into a level reached by very few other directors of westerns. His subtlety is very great: in fact his sense of humor is still, for me, the very best. Nobody better.

Though "Man in the Saddle" has some effective moments and a few good action scenes, it is below average for Randy Scott who usually did better. The high point of the action comes near the beginning of the movie when the cattle are stampeded with Randy trying to outrun the herd in a covered wagon that is ablaze. The shoot out at the end is much too abbreviated only lasting a few minutes. Randy doesn't even get to duke it out with the hired gunslinger Fay Dutcher (Richard Rober). What kind of name is Fay for a gunfighter? Owen Merritt (Scott) shoots Dutcher as he rolls for his gun in the street. The talented actor John Russell has a fairly nondescript role. He would have been much better cast as gunman Dutcher. The story of a love triangle with two women Joan Leslie and Ellen Drew after one man (Scott)is at times overplayed. Exactly what Owen's relationship was with Laurie Bidwell (Leslie) before she married Will Isham (Alexander Knox) for money and power is never revealed. Apparently the two had one hell of a relationship the way it still tugs at their heartstrings and is the continued buzz of the town. The hired gun is not just after more ranch land for his boss but after Owen as well. Alexander Knox who played President Woodrow Wilson magnificently in "Wilson" several years earlier was thus typecast and unable to find himself in other parts. When he played the boss rancher in "Man in the Saddle" he was still trying to find his way after Wilson. Alfonso Bedoya and veteran cowboy actor Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams do well in the comedy department. Bedoya is a good foil for Big Boy. He continually looks for a new hat. Big Boy tells him he doesn't need a new hat for his head, he needs a new head for a hat. Even Randy Scott gets in on the humor this time and comes across with some funny lines. When Bedoya tells Scott that the trees are talking to him. Scott replies, "You'd better lay off that vanilla extract." When he is hold up with Nan Melotte (Ellen Drew)recuperating from a gunshot wound he feels the stubble on his face and comments, "It's like a coyote running through brush." The usually serious Scott plays a lighter role this go around and it is a plus for this otherwise dark and moody film. Look for Cameron Mitchell of television's "The High Chaparral" in a small part as one of the two brothers murdered by Will Isham's gang. In the days before Tex Ritter gave immortality to the theme from "High Noon," showing Hollywood how cowboy music should be presented to the public, multi-talented Tennessee Ernie Ford sang the theme to "Man in the Saddle" with much the same feeling of authenticity. He also gets to sing another ballad on camera as one of the wranglers. He's hard to recognize at first because of his youth and no mustache. Tennessee Ernie was singing hillbilly boogie that sounded very much like Rockabilly when Elvis was still driving a truck in Memphis. He ended up concentrating mainly on television, retiring early from show business, except to cut a gospel album every now and then. "Man in the Saddle" is one of his few screen appearances.Though not up to par for a Randolph Scott western, still worth seeing for fans of 50's westerns.

Man In The Saddle Is Classic In Every Sense Because It Was A Fantastic Formula So Popular During The Fifties When The Star, Not The Film Pulled The Fans Into The Theater. Scott Is Excellent In The Colorful Location Of Lone Pine, California. Detoth Had Come Aboard As Director Since Usual Scott Director Edwin Marin Had Recently Died Of A Heart Attack. Man In The Saddle Is The Action Western No Longer Produced And Sorely Missed By Many, And If It Is Veiwed With An Idea Of The Time it Was Made One can Almost Feel The Excitement Which Filled Theaters No Longer Enjoyed, As In Those Days. I Rate Man In The Saddle 4 Stars Out Of 4. Billy Holcomb

Maybe I was expecting more from this early 1950s Randolph Scott western, but it disappointed me. Alexander Knox is out of place as a rich rancher with an English accent. Richard Rober is badly miscast as a dangerous gunman (he's too pudgy, not sinister looking or sounding at all, & is introduced while wearing a V buttoning shirt with large matching blue buttons, a bit too coordinated for a gunslinger who's not supposed to be especially into his looks). Scott is supposed to be a "man of unbreakable principles," but he's awfully close to his ex-girlfriend at the point she's engaged to someone else, & awfully close to her after she's married to another guy, & Scott can't seem to make up his mind about which woman he wants to be with anyway. I've seen much more unbreakable principles elsewhere! Scott is good in his role, but he's been much better in some of his other films (for example, "The Walking Hills," which was made not long before this film). Clem Bevans is OK as an old guy (what else is new?), but he's almost non-verbal & then disappears shortly after the movie begins. "Man in the Saddle" just doesn't hit the mark. I rate it 6/10.