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Writers: Peter Viertel (story), Daniel Mainwaring (screenplay)
Cast: Robert Sterling, Gloria Grahame, Claude Jarman Jr., John Ireland
Genre: Western
Roughshod (1949)
Director: Mark RobsonWriters: Peter Viertel (story), Daniel Mainwaring (screenplay)
Cast: Robert Sterling, Gloria Grahame, Claude Jarman Jr., John Ireland
Genre: Western
Clay (Robert Sterling) and his younger brother Stevie (Claude Jarman Jr.) are taking a heard of horses across open country to Sonora to sell them. Along the way they find a broken buggy with four fancy women in it. The women are saloon girls and were 'asked' to leave the last town they were in. They're headed to Sonora too, so reluctantly Clay agrees to give them a ride. Meanwhile an escape killer (John Ireland) is after Clay for some payback from a past incident. The three escaped convicts have already killed some unarmed men and taken their clothes and horses. Young Stevie likes Mary (Gloria Grahame) and wants to see his brother end up with her. But the older brother feels she's tainted, besides he's too busy looking over his shoulder for the killers. CR
Roughshod is a little known western by a director who's well known for making such films as The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), Peyton Place (1957), The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954). Like those films Roughshod is focused on the human story more so than action and adventure. The film delves into the relationship between the two parent-less brothers.
The youngest brother has a fully developed character and is by far the most interesting of the two. The younger actor Claude Jarman Jr. is best known for playing the lead in The Yearling. Here he's equally good. I like the way he plays a 12-13 year old boy believably, it's an intelligently written script. One almost forgets that there's a gang of killers on the loose, as the film works so well as a drama.
Gloria Grahame in a western? No way! That's what I thought, but damn she's real good here, this is one of my favorite performances by her. Gloria gets a lot of air time and lots of good scenes as well. She makes the most of it too. The male lead Clay, played by Robert Sterling isn't anything special. Though Sterling and the rest of the actors are up to the task, it's Gloria and the kid who really stand out. Oh and John Ireland makes a formidable bad guy, of course!
I was pleasantly surprised by Roughshod.
Roughshod is a little known western by a director who's well known for making such films as The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), Peyton Place (1957), The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954). Like those films Roughshod is focused on the human story more so than action and adventure. The film delves into the relationship between the two parent-less brothers.
The youngest brother has a fully developed character and is by far the most interesting of the two. The younger actor Claude Jarman Jr. is best known for playing the lead in The Yearling. Here he's equally good. I like the way he plays a 12-13 year old boy believably, it's an intelligently written script. One almost forgets that there's a gang of killers on the loose, as the film works so well as a drama.
Gloria Grahame in a western? No way! That's what I thought, but damn she's real good here, this is one of my favorite performances by her. Gloria gets a lot of air time and lots of good scenes as well. She makes the most of it too. The male lead Clay, played by Robert Sterling isn't anything special. Though Sterling and the rest of the actors are up to the task, it's Gloria and the kid who really stand out. Oh and John Ireland makes a formidable bad guy, of course!
I was pleasantly surprised by Roughshod.