Knife is good. Is more easy to fix. I got knifed three times. When you’re young, everybody sticks knife in you
Hello to all of the classic people that are returning, I am glad you are back. I want to welcome any new visitors. As a technical note, references and citations are listed for each show on the site at classicmovierev.com. Today on the Classic Movie Review Podcast, we are taking on Ride the Pink Horse (1947).
This movie is an excellent Film-Noir with a sub-genre of non-urban noir[1]. This film was recommended by Alan K. Rode for the Noir Photography class I took last year. The film is set in a sleepy border town, the film uses interior and exteriors from Santa Fe, New Mexico when it was indeed a small town. However, it is nowhere near the border.
Robert Montgomery produced, directed, and starred in this movie. If you count his uncredited directing on They Were Expendable (1945), this was his third directing effort and followed the P.O.V. Lady in the Lake (1946).
This film is rated 7.3 on iMDB.com[2], and it deserves to be a lot higher. It fares much better on rottentomatoes.com with 100 percent on the Tomatometer and 86 percent audience approval[3].
On October 9, 1947, New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther gave it a positive review stating partially:
“Nobody writing for movies likes more than ironic Ben Hecht to muse on the dizzy and eccentric rotations of the merry-go-round of life. And that is what he is doing, in a hard-boiled and often violent way, in the script which he and Charles Lederer wrote for “Ride the Pink Horse.” That is likewise what Robert Montgomery has intriguingly captured on the screen in this taut and macabre melodrama, which came to the Winter Garden yesterday. Nothing is proved, particularly, in this grimly humored tale of an amateur blackmailer’s adventures in a noisy New Mexican resort town—nothing, that is, unless you figure that an ultimate conclusion that life is a fateful and fickle experience is something to be proved…
He later continued:
…But Mr. Montgomery, as director and star of this story, has contrived to make it look shockingly literal and keep it moving at an unrelenting pace. And he has also managed to lace it with grisly action and rugged sentiment without deceit. Indeed, he has artfully fashioned a fascinating film within the genre. He has done something else exceptional; he has given the other actors a real chance. Aside from his own performance as the blackmailer, which is vibrantly tough, he has given the heart of the story to Wanda Hendrix, a newcomer, who is fine. As a little Mexican moon-child who shadows the bruiser through the night and finally is able to assist him in his last violent race with fate and death, Miss Hendrix is remarkably sensitive and reflective of sad and mystic moods. And Thomas Gomez, as the carousel proprietor, is surprisingly gay and picturesque[4]…”
I couldn’t but help to notice that Mr. Crowther used the term “moon-child” to describe Wanda Hendrix’s portrayal of Pila. I thought moon-child was a modern term. Urbandictionary.com describes a moon-child as “a unique and a curious soul who is often in a daze, his or her mind is always out of this world. They live in their fantasy and refuse to come back to a harsh reality.”[5] That fits perfectly. Lexico.com dates this term back to the 1920s. Who knew?
This movie is based on the 1946 Dorothy B. Hughes novel of the same name. This movie is kind of dark, but it’s nothing compared to the darkness of the pit that the characters in the book crawled into. I was so shocked by the ending of the book that I had to listen to it a few times so I could clearly understand the surprising left turn.
Actors – Ride the Pink Horse (1947)
Returning
Thomas Gomez played Pancho, the friendly operator of tiovivo. Gomez was nominated for the Best Actor in a Supporting Role Oscar that he didn’t win. He was the first Latino to be nominated for an Oscar. Gomez was first covered in the exceptional film Key Largo (1948).
Fred Clark played gangster Hugo. Clark was first covered in Sunset Blvd. (1950).
New
Robert Montgomery played the angry veteran Blackie Gagin. Montgomery was born in 1904 in New York State. Born to a wealthy family, all their money was lost during the Great Depression. Eventually, Montgomery went to New York to become a writer, but a friend encouraged him to try acting. He worked on stage, and his first film was So This Is College (1929).
He got the role in Private Lives (1931) and began a good run. Montgomery ran the breadth of genres with films like The Big House (1930), Hell Below (1933), Hide-Out (1934), Riptide (1934), The Mystery of Mr. X (1934), Night Must Fall (1937) where he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, Yellow Jack (1938) an interesting movie about the search for the Yellow Fever cure, The Earl of Chicago (1940), Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) where he was again nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, Rage in Heaven (1941), Unfinished Business (1941), John Wayne military odyssey They Were Expendable (1945), and Film-Noirs Lady in the Lake (1946) and Ride the Pink Horse (1947).
Montgomery was the president of the Screen Actors Guild for 1935-1938. During World War II, Montgomery joined the Navy and was in combat, receiving a Bronze Star for his action following D-Day. He took over directing for John Ford during the filming of They Were Expendable (1945). He went on to direct five other films: Film-Noirs Lady in the Lake (1946) and Ride the Pink Horse (1947), Once More, My Darling (1949), Eye Witness (1950), and The Gallant Hours (1960) with James Cagney as Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey, Jr.
Montgomery became the president of the Screen Actors Guild again from 1946-1947. Montgomery worked to drive the Chicago mobs out of the film industry unions. He also later worked, hand in hand with the Unamerican House Unamerican Activities Committee. To me, his most impressive accomplishment is being the father of Elizabeth Montgomery, who we all know is the best witch.
Wanda Hendrix played the role of Pila, a Mexican/Indian. She was born in Florida in 1928[6]. Hendrix was working in local theater when she was spotted by an agent[7] and signed to a Warner Bros. contract. The studio jumped right into more prominent roles like Confidential Agent (1945), Film-Noir Nora Prentiss (1947), and Welcome Stranger (1947), a comedy.
In 1947, she also starred in today’s movie the Film-Noir Ride the Pink Horse (1947). In this film, she was able to portray a shy, socially awkward, Native American/Mexican American successfully. The next year she was in Miss Tatlock’s Millions (1948), and My Own True Love (1948).
In 1949, Hendrix began dating the most decorated U.S.A. soldier of World War II, Audie Murphy. Wounded in the war, Murphey became an actor, and being a Texan made a lot of westerns. He also starred as himself, in To Hell and Back (1955).
Although the couple starred in the western Sierra (1950), the marriage was not a good one. Undiagnosed at the time, Murphy had severe PTSD. His PTSD resulted in paranoia, heavy drinking, and shall we say carousing. The couple separated and divorced in 1951.
Following her divorce, roles began to slow for Hendrix. Some of her best films during this period include Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1949), The Highwayman (1951), Highway Dragnet (1954), and My Outlaw Brother (1951) where she worked with Robert Stack for the second time.
In 1954, she married Robert Stack’s millionaire brother. Their marriage lasted until 1958. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, she began to work on television and had only a few movies like Boy Who Caught a Crook (1961), Johnny Cool (1963), and Stage to Thunder Rock (1964). Hendrix died at the very young age of 52 in 1981.
Art Smith played F.B.I. agent Bill Retz. However, he appeared much too old for the part he played. Smith was born in Illinois in 1899. Smith was a member of The Group Theatre and was in 32 Broadway shows.
Smith’s first full-length movie was Edge of Darkness (1943) about Norwegian’s fighting Nazis. Some of his Film-Noirs include Framed (1947), Brute Force (1947), Ride the Pink Horse (1947), T-Men (1947), Body and Soul (1947), A Double Life (1947), Caught (1949), Quicksand (1950), In a Lonely Place (1950), The Killer That Stalked New York (1950), and The Sound of Fury (1950).
He made many comedies, westerns, and romances. I will mention two of these: The Next Voice You Hear… (1950), where God speaks to the world over the course of a week, and The Hustler (1961) as an old pool hall attendant.
Smith was blacklisted as a Communist in the 1950s. During this blacklist, he worked some on television. Smith died in 1973.
Andrea King played Marjorie, a true Femme Fatale. King was born in Paris in 1919. Her mother was an ambulance driver in World War I and danced with Isadora Duncan. When King was 2 months old, she and her mother returned to the US. King began acting professionally when she was 14. King appeared in three Broadway plays before signing with Warner Bros. in 1944.
King’s first film was The Ramparts We Watch (1940). Other roles include The Very Thought of You (1944), Hollywood Canteen (1944), Mr. Skeffington (1944), God Is My Co-Pilot (1945), her first leading role in the war drama Hotel Berlin (1945), The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) with Peter Lorre, Buccaneer’s Girl (1950), it must be terrible, my perennial favorite Band of Angels (1957) with Clark Gable, and Darby’s Rangers (1958). From about 1959 onwards, she worked extensively on television with an occasional movie like Blackenstein (1973) thrown in. Her last role was in 1994 and she died in 2003.
Rita Conde played the Carla, one of Pila’s friends. Conde was born in 1914 in Cuba. With only 32 film and television credits, Conde is known for a few roles including El ahijado de la muerte (1946), Ride the Pink Horse (1947), The Brave Bulls (1951), and the movie where H.G. Wells chased Jack the Ripper across time in Time After Time (1979). She died in 1989.
Story – Ride the Pink Horse (1947)
A Greyhound bus rolls north along Highway 14 to the fictional town of San Pablo, showing the landscape. It stops at the town’s central bus depot. Indians sell beads and blankets as Mexican- and Anglo-Americans move around. A man steps off the bus that seems entirely out of place.
The man is Blackie Gagin (Robert Montgomery). He transfers a .45 automatic from his briefcase into his coat. He pulls a check from the briefcase and places it in a rental locker. Blackie buys some gum and uses the chewed gum to hide the key for the locker behind the large map mounted on the wall.
He starts looking for the La Fonda motel, a Santa Fe landmark, which was built in 1920. Blackie hears carousel music and a man trying to drum up business in Spanish. He speaks to three young ladies of Spanish descent. Two are very bold, and one is shy to the point of strangeness. She is so skinny that she would have to run around in the shower to get wet. The shy one, Pila (Wanda Hendrix), says she will show him the way. She can’t keep her eyes off Blackie, and he is pretty rude to her. She shows Blackie the location of the La Fonda, but before he can leave, she gives him a small doll for protection. Pila says it is not for sale but is a gift.
Blackie goes into the hotel, and it is super busy. He doesn’t know that the town is in the middle of a fiesta. Blackie can’t get a room but checks his briefcase anyway. He uses hotel stationery to write a letter to Frank Hugo (Fred Clark) and ids the room number as 315 when it is placed in Hugo’s box.
Blackie goes to the room and is met by Jonathan (Richard Gaines), who is Hugo’s personal secretary. Jonathan tries to keep him out, but Blackie forces his way in to ensure that Hugo is not in the room. Jonathan tries to call the manager and Blackie gut punches him.
Shortly after, Marjorie (Andrea King) comes in. She asks if Blackie waylaid Jonathan. Marjorie says she is having diner with Hugo, so he should be back soon. The phone rings, and it’s Hugo. Blackie pretends to be the bellboy. Hugo leaves a message for Marjorie that he will not be back until the next day. Marjorie invites Blackie to dine with her as Johnathan slowly wakes. Blackie leaves a message for Hugo saying, “Shorty’s pal called and will call again.”
When Blackie gets off the elevator on the first floor, he is invited to lunch by a man named Bill Retz (Art Smith). Retz calls Blackie by his last name and knows every detail since he got on the bus. The two men enter the hotel restaurant. Retz tells Blackie that the fiesta has filled up all of the rooms in town. Blackie deduces correctly that Retz is an F.B.I. Agent. Retz says he saw Blackie at Shorty’s inquest in Washington where Blackie testified that he didn’t know who killed Shorty. He says that he is following Hugo, and Hugo is too tough for Blackie. Retz says Blackie is all cussed up because he fought a war and didn’t get anything for it.
Marjorie comes downstairs with Mr. Locke (Edward Earle). She introduces him to Blackie, who is still waiting in the lobby. Locke tries to get Blackie to deal with him, saying he can speak for Hugo. He turns down an invitation for drinks from the couple.
The bellhop returns with no luck finding a room for Blackie. He tells Blackie to go to the Tres Violetas, and he may find an Indian or a Mexican that will rent him a place. The bell boy takes Blackie to the small cantina in the poorer part of town. Pila is waiting outside. Her two friends are inside with some boys. Pila tells Blackie that he will need her. The music goes silent when he enters, and every face in the joint turns to him.
Blackie talks to the two non-shy girls, who are willing to help, but the guy they are with stops them. He orders a whiskey and is give tequila. Blackie tries to pay with a $20, and the bartender has no change. The man from the carousel, Pancho (Thomas Gomez), comes forward to help. He eventually proposes that Blackie and his new friends drink on the twenty until the bartender can make change. When he gets the drink, Pancho says Blackie is the blood of his heart. Pancho explains that tomorrow at the fiesta, Zozobra, the god of bad luck, will be burned, and everyone will start fresh.
In spite of it all, Blackie doesn’t end up shanked in the alley. He tells Pancho that he needs a place to stay, and Pancho says he will give them the best place in San Pablo. Pancho and Blackie start the wobbling walk to sleep, and Pila follows behind like a ghost. Pancho sees her and says she is too skinny.
They go back to the carousel, which is named tiovivo, a Spanish word for a merry-go-round. The place where they are going to sleep is a simple lean-to by tiovivo. Pancho takes a pancho to sleep under and lets Blackie sleep in the bed. Pila arrives just after Pancho falls asleep. Blackie asks Pila if she wants a ride. She says yes, and Blackie wakes Pancho to run the ride. Blackie tells her to ride the pink horse.
Pancho sees the doll Pila gave to Blackie, and it says it keeps death away. Blackie shows his .45 and says it is a better charm. Pila tells Blackie that someone is out in the dark. When the man walks into the light, it’s Retz. Retz says that he doesn’t want Blackie to kill Hugo, but the way Blackie is acting, Hugo has sent two men to track him down. Pila watches over Blackie from one of the chariots on tiovivo.
Pila brings water to Blackie while he is shaving in the morning. Although she is helping him, Blackie is still mean to her. He tells her she needs to comb her hair. He gives money to Pila for a new hairdo and some clothes.
Blackie goes to the lobby of the hotel, and Red (Harold Goodwin) follows him into the elevator. Blackie goes to Hugo’s room, and Johnathan answers. Hugo shouts to let him in. Hugo sends Johnathan and Red away. He asks Blackie what he wants. Hugo is deaf and has to wear a speaker to amplify sound. He first makes sure Blackie is not working with Retz. Hugo says Shorty tried to blackmail him. Blackie and Shorty were in the same unit during World War II. Blackie says he has the evidence that Shorty had, and it is a canceled check for $100,000 draw on a Mexican bank. The implication is that Hugo was bribing people to be a war profiteer. Hugo says it will take a few hours to get the blackmail money of $30,000. They agree to meet at a café at 7 pm.
Retz finds Pila in the lobby. She has a swirled up permanent and a new shawl. Pila says she saw Blackie dead, and that is why she is following him. Blackie comes down, and Retz tries to talk to him. Retz has now realized that Blackie doesn’t want to kill Hugo and that he is a blackmailer. Blackie does not like the hairdo on Pila, but he takes her to lunch anyway.
Blackie orders two fruit cocktails, two trout with au gratin potatoes, and two salads with 1000 island dressing. He is still being mean to Pila. Marjorie comes down and asks to talk. Blackie sends Pila to another table. Marjorie says Hugo holds onto her because he never gives her cash. She says she can manage the deal and get him twice the money and get her some money to escape. She wants Blackie to use a lawyer to hold the check. He refuses and shuts her down hard.
This movie makes interesting use of a Femme Fatale. A Femme Fatale brings disaster to a man that becomes involved with her. He refused to become involved with Marjorie and recognized her for what is. He later told Pila that Marjorie has a dead fish where her heart ought to be, they are dead fish with a lot of perfume on, and if you touch them, you get stung and always lose. Sounds about right!
After lunch, Blackie goes out alone, and the fiesta is in full swing. He goes to the bus station and uses the hidden key to retrieve the check. After dark, they bring the long-armed statue of Zozobra to be burned through the streets. Blackie wades through the throngs of people and makes it to the cafe. Hugo is dining with Marjorie, Locke, Johnathan, and some others. Blackie goes straight to the table. Hugo says the money is on the way. He tells Blackie to wait at the bar, but Marjorie invites Blackie to dance. Marjorie sneaks Blackie off the dance floor and tells him that Hugo is not going to pay and is tricking him. They slip out a side door, and Marjorie tells him there is someone else coming.
Two men jump Blackie with a blackjack and knife. Marjorie watches with delight as Blackie is taken down. When she steps inside, Retz is there asking about Blackie. She delays him a bit, but outside, he finds two men on the ground. Retz tells Hugo that he should have never sent knife fighters against Blackie. The cops come and confirm the one man dead and the other wounded. The police search the parking lot for Blackie.
Pila finds the wounded Blackie and saves him using part of her dress to stop the bleeding. They go and find Pancho. Pancho leaves tiovivo and helps Blackie as the children watch. Pancho gives him a drink and examines the wound. Pila’s bandage is good. Blackie has lost his gun during the fight and escape.
Pancho sees two more men looking for Blackie. They hide him in one of tiovivo’s chariots. Pila covers Blackie with her skirt and a blanket. The two tough guys beat the crap out of Pancho as the children on tiovivo watch. Pancho takes the beating and refuses to betray his friend. With a final kick, they leave.
Blackie says he will give Pancho five grand for his friendship. Pila wants to take Blackie to her town, but they have to wait one and a half hours for the bus. Pancho says for them to go to the Tres Violetas to wait. They all hear the burning of Zozobra, and Pancho thinks it means good luck. Pila says that the wounded man is a friend of Pancho, and the bartender helps. Pila and the wounded Blackie take a table in the back. Blackie takes the check and tells Pila to hide it in her shirt.
Marjorie and Red show up at the bar. Red slowly approaches the passed-out Blackie, and Pila creams him with a bottle. Marjorie sees Red on the floor, but Pila and Blackie make it out the back way. They cut through the side streets until they reach the bus station. Pila loads Blackie onto the bus and goes to buy tickets. The ticket seller is at the fiesta, and Pila goes to look for him.
Blackie wakes up in a feverous haze. Back at the hotel, Hugo is playing cards while Johnathan waits on him. Pila comes back to the bus and finds that Blackie has headed to the hotel.
Blackie makes it to the hotel and heads up to Hugo’s room. Pila is a little behind him. She catches up with him just outside Hugo’s suite. A thug (John Doucette) with a gun and another thug are now in the room. Blackie is so far gone that he doesn’t recognize Hugo. Hugo has the wounded Blackie ready to give the check to him, but Blackie can’t remember where the canceled check is located. The thug tries to beat the information out of Blackie. The second thug begins slapping Pila.
Suddenly, Retz comes in with his gun drawn. He searches everyone for weapons and slaps the speaker away from Hugo. Retz gets Blackie up, and they start heading to the door. Hugo chews on Blackie for not asking for more money and being a chump. Blackie asks Pila for the check. He hands it over to Retz.
Blackie and Retz have a final breakfast together. Blackie is worried about Pila, but he denies it. He says Pancho will understand about not getting the five grand as a reward. Blackie and Retz go to tiovivo to say goodbye.
Pancho is happy to see Blackie. Pancho says he is born to be broke. Pila comes around the church and walks directly to Blackie. She stands like stone as he returns the good luck statue. Blackie is talking a lot, and finally, Pila says, “goodbye senior.” He cheek kisses her and she leaves.”
Her friends and the other children come around, and Pila tells the story of her time with Blackie. She is now the hero of the story and no longer a social outcast. She takes one sad look at Blackie as he leaves and then returns to her newfound fame.
I’ll be right back with conclusions and the World-Famous Short Summary following a word from our sponsors.
Summary- Ride the Pink Horse (1947)
I made my first visit to Santa Fe last year, and like all true romantics, I feel in love with the town. Some of this movie was set in the La Fonda Hotel, which was built in the “Pueblo Revival” style in 1920. It is great to see, and they have a bar on the roof.
This story is set around a fiesta that takes place in early September each year. The celebration fills the town with tourists, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and others. But what they are celebrating is very odd.
In 1640, the local Indians killed about 400 Spanish and drove another 2000 out of what the Spanish called the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico, in what is called the Pueblo Revolt[8].
In 1692, the Spanish returned to the town of Santa Fe and were unopposed. The city began having the yearly fiesta in 1712 to celebrate the retaking of the city from the Indians. The burning of Zozobra started in 1924.[9]
World-Famous Short Summary – man finds two terrific friends in a small town.
Beware the moors
[1] https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3499-ride-the-pink-horse-and-nonurban-noir
[2] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039768/
[3] https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ride_the_pink_horse
[4] https://www.nytimes.com/1947/10/09/archives/ride-the-pink-horse-mystery-starring-robert-montgomery-and-wanda.html
[5] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Moon%20Child
[6] https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0376905/
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanda_Hendrix
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_Revolt
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zozobra
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