Blonde as a new mop and beautiful as the girl on the feed store calendar
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 Classic Movie Rev, we are taking on Western Noir Roughshod (1949).
Before we get going, I want to remind you to follow the link in the show notes or from the site to visit our store.
Today’s movie, Roughshod (1949), is definitely a western and maybe a Film Noir. This film strayed from the traditional western formula by making the female characters more prominently than usual. Many people, including myself, consider this a Film Noir as well as a western. This topic is hotly debated. Roger Fristoe of TCM.com wrote in an article title “Western Noir – February 19”[1] that Roughshod (1949) was also screened among the Western Noir films.
This film is not beloved. On iMDB.com, this film has a low 6.7 rating.[2] On rottentomatoes.com, this film is brutalized with no Tomatometer score and only 50 percent audience approval.[3]
New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther said in a June 17, 1949 review:
“…represents an effort to get a wee bit away from the usual literal formula of the low-budget Western film. Telling a romantic story of a cowboy who has to herd ten horses, four dames and his kid brother over a mountain pass while all the time menaced by the nearness of three desperate renegades, it has, at least, the virtue of a mildly intriguing plot, rendered occasionally amusing by the yammering of the dames. And it has the familiar advantage of some excellent outdoor camera work, which makes the journey agreeable, if only for the scenery. But, like most low-budget Westerns, it bears the heavy stamp of muddled and mild direction and weak performances in some wheel-horse roles. There’s nothing much wrong with Robert Sterling as the hero, except that he is damned with one of those pretty-boy faces that look store-bought in Western films. But Gloria Grahame is rather silly as the one of the four dames he buys, and Claude Jarman Jr. is plumb sissy as the supposedly range-hardened kid. Myrna Dell and Jeff Donnell flop around as two other of the dames, and John Ireland scowls with all the darkness and determination of a professional rogue. One rather gets the impression that RKO wanted to make a low-budget “Stagecoach” in “Roughshod.” But it didn’t pull enough on the whiffle-trees.”
Wow. A couple of things here. I don’t think you can call people dames or a sissy anymore. Secondly, this movie features Gloria Grahame running around the west. This movie is worth watching just to see one of Film Noirs Femme Fatales running around the screen.
We have a ton of returning actors, so we better get going.
Actors – Roughshod (1949)
Returning
Gloria Grahame played saloon hall girl Mary Wells. Grahame was first covered in It’s A Wonderful Life (1946).
Jeff Donnell played saloon girl Elaine Wyatt. I have to say she was a whiny pain in the butt, and this wasn’t her finest performance. Donnell was first covered in The Blue Gardenia (1953).
Martha Hyer played saloon girl Marcia. Hyer was first covered in First Men in the Moon (1964).
Sara Haden was convincing as Ma Wyatt. Haden was first covered in The Bishop’s Wife (1947).
John Ireland played Lednov, an escaped convict set on murdering Clay Phillips. Ireland was first covered in the Western Red River (1948).
Paul E. Burns was uncredited as a merchant named Mr. Hayes. Burns was first covered in Night Editor (1946).
Sean McClory played an unfortunate gold miner named Fowler. McClory was first covered in the great Sci-Fi Them! (1954).
New
Robert Sterling played driven cowboy Clay Phillips. Sterling was born in Pennsylvania in 1917. Sterling graduated from the University of Pittsburgh before going into clothing sales. Sometime later, he decided to try acting. Columbia signed Sterling in 1939. While at Columbia, he was in shorts and two-reelers.
Sterling was signed at MGM in 1941 because Robert Taylor was joining the Navy. Sterling was prepped with movies like Ringside Maisie (1941), Two-Faced Woman (1941), Johnny Eager (1941), I’ll Wait for You (1941), The Getaway (1941), This Time for Keeps (1942), and Somewhere I’ll Find You (1942).
Sterling joined the Army Air Corp and served as a pilot instructor during World War II. When he returned, his movie career never hit the expected heights. During this time, he was in movies such as Roughshod (1949), Bunco Squad (1950), Show Boat (1951), and Column South (1953).
Sterling and his second wife, actress Anne Jeffreys started working as a singing club act. They did well and, as a result, they were cast in television’s “Topper” 1953-1955. More movies, such as Return to Peyton Place (1961), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961), and A Global Affair (1964), followed. He worked on television until 1986.
Sterling also worked for a successful computer software company and formed a family business manufacturing golf clubs. He died in 2006.
Claude Jarman Jr. played Clay’s younger brother Steve. Jarman was born in Tennessee in 1934. When he was 12, Jarman won a talent search and was cast in The Yearling (1946). His performance was well-received, and he was awarded a miniature honorary, Oscar.
Jarman was sent to the MGM studio star, but he never found the magic. He had a few movies that include High Barbaree (1947), The Sun Comes Up (1949), Roughshod (1949), Intruder in the Dust (1949), and Rio Grande (1950).
In the early 1950s, he was loaned out for small parts and wasn’t able to break into television work. Jarman returned to Nashville, where he finished high school and graduated from Vanderbilt University. After spending three years in the Navy, Jarman returned to Hollywood but couldn’t find movie work.
He worked in various jobs, and after a 19-year hiatus, he appeared in “Centennial” in 1979.
Myrna Dell played another salon girl named Helen Carter. Dell was born in California in 1924. Dell started as a showgirl, and one of her earlier roles was in Ziegfeld Girl (1941). She returned to club work until she returned to Hollywood in 1943. She was in a lot of oaters and other films such as Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), Nocturne (1946), The Lost Tribe (1949), The Girl from Jones Beach (1949), The Furies (1950), The Bushwhackers (1952), and Ma Barker’s Killer Brood (1960).
She was a regular on television until 1981 and had a recurring role on “China Smith” 1952-1953. Dell worked as a columnist and is credited with inventing autograph shows. She died in 2011.
Story – Roughshod (1949)
Three escaped convicts wearing striped uniforms come over a hill and find three cowboys by a fire. The convict’s leader Lednov (John Ireland), guns the three cowboys down without mercy. The convicts steal the clothes and horses from the murdered men. They ride away, and the credits roll.
Jed Graham (Jeff Corey) is traveling down the road when he discovers the site of the three murdered cowboys. Graham finds the convicts uniform in the fire. He heads on to town and meets a wagon coming in the other direction. He knows the four occupants of the wagon as they are ladies of the evening from the town of Aspen. The leader of the ladies is Mary Wells (Gloria Grahame), along with Elaine Wyatt (Jeff Donnell), Marcia (Martha Hyer), and Helen Carter (Myrna Dell).
Graham helps them drive their wagon down the hill. Elaine is a real Debbie downer. They see the bodies in Graham’s wagon, and he warns them to go back. The women say that they were invited to leave town and can’t go back.
Back in town, Clay Phillips (Robert Sterling) and his younger brother Steve (Claude Jarman Jr.) are having their wagon repaired. Graham arrives and takes the bodies to the sheriff. Sheriff Gardner (Ed Cassidy) calls Clay into his office. Graham tells about the murders. The sheriff shows Clay a telegram telling that Lednov, Purdy, which may be Peters, who was played by Steve Savage, and McCall (Robert B. Williams) escaped from prison and headed in their direction.
Lednov and Clay have issues, but the problem is not explained. The sheriff and some men head out looking for the criminals. Clay says he will continue to head towards his ranch.
Clay goes into the store and buys six boxes of 30-30 shells. Clay tells Steve that Lednov killed a man that wasn’t looking. Clay buys Steve a larger rifle. Clay expects to meet Lednov on the road to his ranch.
Steve is driving the wagon, and Clay is wrangling ten horses towards their ranch. They begin finding women’s clothes and a trunk scattered along the road. They find the lady’s wagon broken down in the ditch at the bottom of a steep hill. Clay returns some pictures to Elaine, and she acts kind of weird. Clay knows who the ladies are, and he is not too friendly to them.
Clay loads the women and their gear into the wagon and says he will take them as far as the first ranch. Elaine is freaked out that they are heading to the Wyatt Ranch, which just happens to be her last name.
The group of travelers stops by a stream for the night. Mary and the others are trying to carry their weight by working. When it was dark, Clay hears the horses whinnying and goes out with his rifle. He surprises a man that turns out to be Jim Clayton (George Cooper). Clayton is looking for Marcia so he can marry her. Mary says it won’t work, and Clay says he wouldn’t do it, but it is okay if Clayton wants to marry her. Clayton and Marcia leave the group.
Mary starts teaching Steve to read. Steve says that Clay always made him go to the other side of the street when they passed Mary’s workplace. Elaine runs away into the brush. Clay and Steve begin searching for her. Steve finds her and convinces her to come back to camp. Suddenly they see three men riding along the road. Steve takes a shot at them with his new rifle.
When Clay rides back, he finds the sheriff’s posse bring Steve and Elaine back. Steve had fired on the posse. Clay takes the larger gun away from Steve.
Steve spends time in the wagon with Mary learning to read. Clay gets mad and sends him back to take care of the horses. Clay says that Lednov killed his friend. Clay tracked him down and shot him in the shoulder before bringing him back for punishment.
Later, in a driving rain, Elaine, who is very sick, tries to escape from the wagon.
Lednov and his gang show up at the Wyatt Ranch. They are pretty mean to Pa (Ed) Wyatt (James Bell) and his wife Ma Wyatt (Sara Haden). They take Pa’s gun and all his shells. Lednov orders his men to leave after they eat supper.
Lednov and crew leave the ranch just before Clay and company arrive.
Clay finds out that the murderers have been at the ranch. Clay tells the Wyatt’s that he is going to leave the women with them. Ma Wyatt doesn’t care what kind of people they are. When Elaine is brought in, the Wyatt’s see that it is their runaway daughter. Ma is overjoyed. Pa then orders the other women out of his house. Clay convinces Pa to let the women stay. Mary goes out to convince Clay to take her and Helen along. Clay doesn’t bite.
Mary tries again in the morning. Ma is tending to Elaine. Helen takes over the feeding of Elaine. Elaine says Helen and Mary need to leave with Clay and Steve. Elaine says she is not leaving the ranch.
After getting Elaine all riled up, she asks Clay to take the other two away. To protect Elaine, Clay takes Mary and Helen with him on the trail. Clay leads the group over the Sonora Pass. He rides ahead and sees the three convicts, but he can’t get a shot off. He stops the group for the night.
Clay scouts for a new trail so they can get away from the criminals. Steve tells the ladies what a great guy Clay is.
Through the night, Clay leads the group along a new trail over the pass. They are stopped by Fowler (Sean McClory), who has a camp along the trail. Fowler invites the group to share his camp.
Helen goes down to the creek to wash while Mary begins making a fire. Mary gets in Clay’s bubble, and they kiss until interrupted by Steve. Clay tells Steve that he doesn’t want Mary around even though he kissed her.
At the creek, Helen finds Fowler’s gold panning equipment. He shows her the gold he has found, and Helen decides to stay with Fowler.
Clay and Mary pickup the kissing, and Mary wants sweet words. He won’t say he loves her, and she storms off. On the way, she finds out that Helen is staying. Helen and Mary fight about the future. Clay is mean to Mary. Mary steals the wagon and drives away.
Clay and Steve chase after her. Before they can arrive, the horses break free, and the wagon crashes into the steam. Clay recuses Mary from the creek. When she wakes, she is mad because her clothes are floating away. Clay is mad about the wagon being destroyed. Clay says he will be dropping her off at the first passing stage on the next road.
Downstream, the convicts are crossing the stream and find some of Mary’s clothes floating. By nightfall, the criminals have found the wrecked wagon. Later they find Fowler’s camp.
Lednov interrogates Fowler while the third guy finds Helen. They force Clay’s location out of Helen and then murder Fowler. The fate of Helen is left open.
Lednov sees Clay’s group in the distance. Steve puts the horses in a corral. Clay jumps on Steve for starting a fire. Steve stands up to Clay. Steve wants him to apologize to Mary.
The stage comes down the road, and they prepare to put Mary on it. Clay tries to apologize, but he can’t really do it. Mary leaves on the stage. Clay sends a message to the sheriff on the stage. Clay and Steve are about to break up their family/partnership.
Steve sees the three criminals coming down the trail. Clay and Steve go into the rocks to hide. Lednov sends one man down to check out the camp. He sends the other off to his right.
Clay shoots and kills the first criminal. Clay moves downhill as Lednov takes a lower position by the stream. Steve covers from above. Clay fires from the stream and kills the second criminal. Lednov calls for Clay to come out. He then begins firing on the horses in the corral.
Steve runs down to turn the horses out of the corral. He is wounded by Lednov but lets the horses go. Clay gets above Lednov and shots him.
The posse comes into town with the three dead bodies. A doctor is taking a bullet out of Steve. Mary comes into the doctor’s office. Mary begins to leave, saying she is going to the other side of the street. Clay goes after her, and they kiss. Steve watches from inside. Clay proposes, and they all live happily ever after.
Summary – Roughshod (1949)
On the western frontier, it was common for men to marry prostitutes.
Girlsvsglobe.com website says “men of the Wild West often married working girls. Some famous examples include Wyatt Earp and both of his wives Maggie and Josephine.”[4]
Like most normal red-blooded males my age, I am somewhat obsessed with Film Noir bad girl Gloria Grahame. When I saw that the movie Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (2017)[5] was about Grahame and starred the amazing actress Annette Benning, I was in for the ride. It was a heartbreaker.
This movie tells the story of Grahame’s later years in England, taking a younger lover and her battle with cancer. This movie is all based on actual events, and it is a real tearjerker.
Grahame was panned with a story that she had an affair with her 13-year-old stepson. Her fourth marriage was to her former stepson.
For some reason, Grahame thought she needed to improve her looks through plastic surgery[6]. By 1955, multiple surgeries had paralyzed her upper lip. She would stuff tissue under her lip to make it look fuller. During kissing scenes, the leading man often ended up getting a mouthful of paper.[7]
Grahame survived breast cancer in 1974, but it returned in 1980. Her children picked her up in Liverpool and forced her to return to the US. She died a painful death in 1981 at the young age of 57.
World-Famous Short Summary – horses first, then love.
I hope you enjoyed today’s show. Don’t forget to follow the link in the show notes or from the site to visit our store.
Beware the moors.
[1] https://www.tcm.com/articles/Programming%20Article/020916/western-noir-february-19
[2] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041827/
[3] https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/roughshod
[4] http://www.girlsvsglobe.com/wild-women-west/
[5] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5711148/
[6] https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-gloria-grahame/
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Grahame
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