Best movie ever!

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

A thoroughly unpleasant Robert Montgomery (Gagin) arrives in a Mexican town to exact revenge on criminal Fred Clark (Hugo) who is responsible for the killing of his army pal. Also on the tail of Clark is diminutive Government Agent Art Smith (Retz). Local girl Wanda Hendrix (Pila) develops a creepy fascination with Montgomery and follows him around for the duration of the film. God knows why. He is horrible to her. And to everyone else. He needs to be bumped off. Is there hope?This film is boring. The story is a little confusing in relation to the cheque plot line and only the character of Andrea King (Marjorie) convinces. Art Smith is nice enough but no way would he be in such control of a situation as he is when he enters the gangster's hotel room at the end of the film. Thomas Gomez (Pancho) is good enough as the Mexican owner of the roundabout but I was surprised to learn that he was nominated for a best supporting actor award. Why? He was a stereotypical fat, jolly Mexican whose behaviour made no sense at all from the very beginning when he befriended the impossibly unlike-able Montgomery. Montgomery is just plain awful in this and his mouth when he laughs betrays him as slightly retarded looking. He also gets the better hand in a fight against two hardened cut-throat Mexican gangsters – NO WAY! Montgomery wanders around in this film for great long, boring sections and elicits no sympathy whatsoever. This film is not good. And what is the title about? The ending does score the film a point for being different but stronger lead performances could have made this far more effective.

I am a huge fan of Montgomery.He starred in two of my all time favorite films, Here Comes Mr. Jordan and The Lady in the Lake (which he also directed).Here he both stars and directs but unfortunately that is not enough. Films in border towns turned out to be the kiss of death for adventurous Hollywood producers. Even Charlton Heston tried one (actually playing a Mexican!) and it almost ruined his career.Montgomery has personality, star power, and directing chops to spare. But again, just not enough. The film never gets moving and the faux Mexican overlay (here Wanda Hendrix puts on heavy makeup to play the Mexican love interest) strangles the film in its sleep.An irony Philip Marlowe would appreciate.

When a bus arrives in San Pablo, the mysterious American Lucky Gagin (Robert Montgomery) looks for the La Fonda Hotel and he meets the local Pila (Wanda Hendrix) that offers to take him there. Gagin is a tough man and army veteran and he seeks out a man called Frank Hugo (Fred Clark) and he learns that he will be back to his room only on the next day. Gagin stumbles upon FBI Agent Bill Retz (Art Smith), who is chasing the powerful mobster Frank Hugo, and he warns Gagin to forget his scheme for revenging his friend Shorty that was murdered by Frank. Then Gagin looks for a hotel room and he goes to the Bar Tres Violetas, where he befriends the owner of carousel called Pancho (Thomas Gomez) and he buys drinks for his friends in the bar. Pancho offers a place to Gagin to spend the night. On the next morning, Gagin goes to the hotel and meets Frank Hugo. He blackmails the mobster, asking for 30,000 dollars to give a check that incriminates him. Frank Hugo accepts the deal and tell that the money will be available only at 7:00 PM. Will Gagin succeed in his extortion of money from Frank?"Ride the Pink Horse" is a different film-noir directed by Robert Montgomery, who is also the lead actor. His bitter and unpleasant character is well-developed as a war veteran disillusioned with the post-war life since his lover is unfaithful and his best friend was murdered by a mobster. Wanda Hendrix performs a weird character, maltreated by Gagin but following him like a puppy. But the plot is a good story of friendship. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Do Lodo Brotou Uma Flor" ("From the Mud Sprouted a Flower")

Robert Montgomery starred in and directed this pseudo-noir set in a rural New Mexican town. Montgomery plays a man on the trail of a gangster with the intention of avenging the death of a war buddy at his hands. Once there, he collides with an FBI agent also on the trail, and gets help from a local carousel barker and an enigmatic young Native American woman. The revenge plot is standard issue crime movie stuff, and while it's well directed and paced by Montgomery, it's nothing special. But an unexpectedly delightful addition to the film, and one that sets it apart from countless other films from the same time period and genre, comes from the relationship between Montgomery's character and the two locals. Thomas Gomez was Oscar nominated for his performance as Pancho, and Wanda Hendrix is marvelous as Pila, Montgomery's his girl Friday. The movie avoids making stereotypes out of them and instead creates robust, three-dimensional characters. The actors are wonderful, all three of them, and the chemistry they build together turns "Ride the Pink Horse" into one of the more memorable films noir from that genre's most fertile era.Grade: A