Saddle the Wind

Plot synopsis:
Retired gunslinger and former Confederate soldier Steve Sinclair (Robert Taylor) is living as a rancher in a small western community. He collaborates with the main landowner Dennis Deneen (Donald Crisp), from whom he rents the ranch, to preserve communal stability. His quiet life is disrupted by the appearance of his emotionally unstable younger brother Tony (John Cassavetes) and Tony's beautiful girlfriend Joan (Julie London). An old rival of Steve's, gunman Larry Venables (Charles McGraw), also arrives on the scene looking for Steve. Tony confronts Venables and kills him in a shootout. His success goes to his head and he gets drunk, ignoring Joan.
A new problem arises with the arrival of Clay Ellison (Royal Dano), a farmer who plans to fence off a strip of land currently grazed by cattle. Tony attempts to drive off Ellison, but Steve intervenes. Ellison appeals to Deneen, who agrees to defend Ellison's legal rights to the land. However Tony murders Ellison when he attempts to buy provisions in town. Deneen breaks his ties with the Sinclairs. Steve intends to leave the ranch, but Tony tries to take over. Steve drives him off, but Tony confronts Deneen and attempts to kill him. Both are wounded in the gunfight. Deneen's men recruit Steve to find Tony, who has fled into the hills. When Steve finds him, Tony shoots himself. Steve tells the wounded Deneen, who persuades him to stay on at the ranch with Joan.

Tags: murder

Review:
Tony has a thirst for gun play, and when he guns down a fellow gunman in the bar, things start to rapidly spiral out of control for the Sinclair family.Saddle The Wind has some top credentials coming with it.
Written by one Rod Serling, and starring Robert Taylor and John Cassavetes as the Sinclair brothers, it's a film not short on quality.
Well the story is an over familiar one, gunfighter trying to leave his bad past behind, loose cannon youngster out to make a name for himself, and yes we get a female love interest causing conflict and confusion (Julie London in a stock and undemanding role).
Yet familiarity definitely does not breed contempt in this instance.If new comers to this film are aware of John Cassavetes and his style of acting, then, in spite of the oddity of seeing him in Western surroundings, one can reasonably know what to expect.
Cassavetes brings the method to young Tony Sinclair, instilling intensity, even borderline mania in the upstart hot shot, so much so that Robert Taylor's fine world weary turn as Steve gets lost until the finale.
He lived on a ranch in his later years with his second wife Ursula Thiess and their kids and he definitely looked home on the range.He plays an older and wiser gunfighter like Gregory Peck's character of the film of the same name who would like to settle down and with the help of Donald Crisp, the big cattle ranch owner in the valley where Taylor owns his spread, he's trying to make an honest living.The problem is that Taylor has a younger brother, a wild kid played by John Cassavetes, who wants to emulate his brother or at least the older version of his brother.
I think that this was probably Dano's best screen performance.Taylor and Cassavetes offer an interesting contrast between a studio personality who learned to become a good actor and a New York based method actor.
"Saddle the Wind" is the first of two 1958 Westerns in which Taylor plays a reformed outlaw...
The sexy and flamboyant Julie London provides the love interest but her role is poorly defined and almost working from outside the plot...Robert Taylor is a personality on screen rather than an actor...
This battle has much more cinematic electricity than the final confrontation between the two brothers...Strong landowner (Donald Crisp) imposes himself at this point, and asks the two brothers, now troublemakers, to leave the country...Shortly after that time, Cassavetes gets into a wild and confused struggle with Crisp's men and is wounded, but manages to escape...
Taylor goes out to get him...With some magnificent Colorado Rockies scenery caught effectively by George Folsey's CinemaScope and Technicolor photography, "Saddle the Wind" is modestly effective, humorless Western drama....
The Sinclairs and the Deneens are two ranching families who share the open range in their remote western valley.
Robert Taylor plays Steve with manly, tight-lipped stoicism, contrasting markedly with John Cassavetes' Tony, a jumpy dynamo of attention-seeking energy.
This thoughtful MGM western sets up a whole web of conflicts and tensions: there is the inevitable clash between the two brothers, the uneasy modus vivendi with Old Man Deneen, friction between ranchers and homesteaders, as the latter try to settle on the free range.
When Tony returns from a trip to the city bringing with him the beautiful Joan (Julie London) as his bride-to-be, yet another source of conflict arises.
The psychology of this tentative relationship is sensitively portrayed, for instance in the scene where Joan remarks, "I've seen reformed gunmen before."  Steve reacts with a mixture of shame and hurt which tells us that he desires her good opinion.
Adler's worth his weight in silver-- Rosita was a silver-mining settlement-- and he's in the first scene so catch that at least.The reason that mother lode of character actors matters is because-- along with always-fine Donald Crisp and better-with-age Robert Taylor-- they carry this movie.
Dramatic and enjoyable Western with very good main and secondary cast , being well shot by Robert Parrish.
This interesting movie is set in post-Civil War ; it features Steve Sinclair (Robert Taylor) , a world a world-weary , prior gunfighter , now living as a peaceful farmer , his wild younger brother Tony (John Cassavetes) , and a previous dance hall girl , Joan Blake , (Julie London) , masquerading as a lady .
Good performances from Robert Taylor as obstinate ex-gunslinger , this is the best movie of Taylor's later work ; John Cassavetes as reckless as well as nutty young brother who gives a mannered but intelligent acting and Julie London as his bride who bears a dark past .
Taylor prided himself on not "mugging" and here his reserved style worked well as Cassavetes' older brother, a retired gunman.
The pain of a man watching someone he brought up as son, not a younger brother, turn into an unstable, erratic killer is evident on Taylor's craggy face.
The younger brother is in constant motion--he seems to mistake activity for accomplishment.Through a number of plot twists including disputed land ownership, romance (with Julie London) and brother-to-brother conflict, the film moves quickly and stylishly towards its inevitable end.
Julie London is underused but does what she can.In the end, New York and Hollywood work well together to make a highly watchable film.
Sirk did it with the woman's picture, Minnelli with the musical, Hitchcock with the thriller; Robert Parrish does it here with the Western, with a vision of Eisenhower family-values capitalist America as a medieval feudality, where everyone must pay obeisance to a landowner, where the stable family unit consists of a killer and a wild sexual neurotic, and where capitalism is actually destructive to the family and continuity, a sterile thing.Whether John Cassavetes is an embodiment of the Western hero gone wrong, the pressure of capitalism turned in on itself, or a rebel without a cause, the film is full of powerful incident - Cassavetes' first insane shooting spree, which he ends by shooting his own puddled reflection; the drunken attack by Cassavetes and friend on a family of homesteaders, uncomfortably reversing the old attacking-Indians routine; the Leonesque showdown between Cassavetes and Ellison backed by his own brother.
His acting style is so different from that of his co-star Robert Taylor that the film barely holds together.To his credit, Cassavetes shoots for veracity, for a naturalism that brings humanity to a character that could've easily become a cardboard cutout of a psycho.
Their aesthetics are just too different.In the plus column, supporting character actor Royal Dano is amazing in this movie, utterly convincing as a squatter with lingering Civil War resentments and a legal claim on a piece of land that puts him in direct conflict with the area ranchers.
These are really subversive in a way, as Cassavetes' character takes on a role usually reserved for Indians, nameless "Others" who are utterly inhuman and dispensable.I was also pleasantly surprised at Julie London's performance.
The only western written by Rod Serling and has a cast that includes Robert Taylor, John Cassavetes and Donald Crisp.
Taylor and Cassavetes are brothers who live on Crisp's land and Cassavetes brings home a wife, played by Julie London, and everyone is surprised Cassavetes wants to get married.
Taylor is a former gunfighter and when Cassavetes get a gun for the first time he winds up killing a man who was looking to kill Taylor.
It's a pretty good western that was written by Rod Serling..
Considering this, it is great to see an actor like John Cassavetes giving such a "method" performance and coming out so well, Tony Sinclair seems like a very true character.
Robert Taylor was a familiar face in westerns, but as he got older, he became more physically suited for the role.
Julie London was more of a singer than an actress, but she is great as Joan, the woman who hangs on to a crazy Tony in a desperate attempt to change her life.
Although modest in length and budget and lacking big-star actors, it presents a dramatic and realistic picture of family relationships (between two brothers) in an authentic western setting.
The filmed in Colorado backdrop is very pretty and easy on the eye, the acting (particularly by John Cassavetes) is professional and convincing, and while there isn't a terrible amount of action, the movie remains all the way through fairly compelling and not boring.
Along with likes of Boetticher and Mann, this one belongs.If you need Name Dropping, aside from Serling, there is the fine, sometimes Cynical Director Robert Parrish, Pretty Songbird Julie London, Streetwise smoothie John Cassavetes as an Angst driven Hot-Head, Robert Taylor (never better), reliable Staff such as Donald Crisp, and Charles Mcgraw (with a great show starter Scene), and Roy Dano in a touching, heart wrenching significant Role.
Saddle the Wind tells the story of Tony Sinclair (John Cassavetes), the  troubled younger brother of Steve Sinclair (Robert Taylor) who both  share ownership of a cattle ranch.
What's more interesting, but  isn't really developed very well, is the emerging situation between  Taylor and Julie London, who plays Cassavetes somewhat reluctant  fiancée that he brings home after a night of carousing.
Charles McGraw  has an interesting if abbreviated role as the well known gunfighter  Larry Venables, who comes into town hunting for Steve (Taylor) but has  to deal with Tony (Cassavetes).
Method western with great performances by Robert Taylor and John Cassavetes!.
Robert Taylor turns in a understated performance as Steve Sinclair, a reformed gunfighter who only wants to build a ranch and be peaceful.
John Cassavetes as Tony Sinclair, the younger brother is excellent as the confused, trigger happy malcontent.
When Tony brings Julie London back to the ranch, and annonces that they are to be married, Steve finds it necessary to warn her that "this boy has problems".
When Mr. Deneen, the man who runs the valley finds that Tony has killed a famous gunslinger, Charles McGraw, to save Steve from the confrontation, he warns Steve that if it happens one more time, they have to leave the valley.
In the end Steve must confront Tony after he shoots Deneen in an argument over open range.
Robert Taylor as the older brother is thoughtful, and conflicted about the fate of this young man, who it is clear to see, he loves.
He gets a wonderful performance from Taylor, and a young Cassavetes.
Great western, with the quintessential cowboy, Robert Taylor..
Robert Taylor as Steve Sinclair gets top billing in this film and John Cassavetes(Tony Sinclair) steals the picture from Robert Taylor, but the real star of the film is its chief writer, Rod Serling.
Though we don't know it at the time, Tony Sinclair killed Venables' brother.
The dialog in this opening scene is bright and snappy, not a word out of place.Things really start to speed up when the younger Sinclair comes into the movie with Joan Blake(Julie London)in tow.
It's too bad, really because the young Sinclair has enough young man's angst/sexual energy to burn, as he spends his first moments with his girl at the new homestead actually away from his girl, shooting his gun at objects around the ranch trying to impress his older brother.
At one defining moment of self loathing in the movie, the young Sinclair duels with his own reflection in a puddle.Another intriguing character is that of Dennis Deneen(Donald Crisp).
The song that Julie London sings is very good.Cassavetes, Crisp, London and Taylor give solid performances.
SADDLE THE WIND - 1958I finally got around to this 1958 western headlined by Robert Taylor, John Cassavetes and Julie London.
The film is sort of a psychological Western written by the great Rod Serling.
Robert Taylor is an ex gunfighter who owns a ranch in a high mountain valley.
And that is Taylor's younger brother, John Cassavetes.
Cassavetes, just back from a supply buying run to the big city, arrives back at the ranch with his pretty bride to be, Julie London.
Taylor shot his brother in a gunfight some years before and McGraw has finally tracked him to the valley.Cassavetes calls McGraw out not knowing just how good McGraw is.
What makes this western "special," is that it appears to follow the traditional lines of the genre: reformed gunfighter tries to deter his wild, younger brother from following in his path.
I am of the belief that "Saddle The Wind" (1958)can be pretty much summed up when Robert Taylor (Steve Sinclair) takes a gun away from his brother John Cassavates (Tony Sinclair)after he kills a man and says, "The use of it ...
but where did you get the love it?" How many times have we seen the older reformed gunfighter take away a gun from his gun crazy kid brother who just happens to be full of hubris?
Robert Taylor and John Cassavetes cast as brothers?!.
The idea of John Cassavetes and Robert Taylor playing brothers just didn't seem right.
Part of this was their styles of acting, part of it was because they looked nothing like each other and was they the difference in their ages was 18 years--old enough that perhaps Cassavetes would have been better cast as Taylor's son!
But, as Taylor was a big-name actor, there was no way that MGM would cast the younger actor as his son.The film begins with the younger brother (Cassavetes) coming home with a woman (Julie London).
However, when Cassavetes and his no-good friend later come upon these same folks, because they were now drunk on alcohol and power, they bully these people and might have killed them had it not been for Taylor's return.
The pip-squeak little brother was not about to just accept this and the viewer KNOWS that a much more deadly showdown is brewing.While many elements of the film are quite familiar (and reminiscent of such films as "Night Passage") and the casting was very strange, this was still a good and successful western.
A violent western which,in spite of a happy end -a bit artificial-, leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.John Cassavetes 's presence is strange and his playing is more modern than the rest of the cast;it is not easy to believe he is Robert Taylor's brother,but why not?
Tony comes from a family that has a history of mental sickness:didn't he see his brother kill several men when he was at such an early age?As soon as Tony appears on the screen ,we know his fate is sealed ;the scene where he shoots at his reflection in the water is prophetic.If you pay some attention,you'll notice that Tony and his brother Steve are almost wearing the same clothes (see the scene with the Yankees and the final scenes where Robert Parrish substitutes close -up shots for his panoramic ones) Joan (Julie London who sings the eponymous lovely title track ) could be his salvation ,but this girl has always a racy past (not THAT girl!
says Steve).She would like to pick up the pieces ,to start a brand new life in the country (in the westerns ,the town often means evil),but the first intimate scene between her and Tony proves it wrong: she says she loves his smile and she begins to sing his song ;but what follows is almost a rape attempt .Tony is a violent rebel without a cause:as he was always refused love and compassion -and his scene with Joan proves he is incapable of giving tenderness and affection,the only way he knows to be a man is the gun.No matter if he shoots his brother's enemy or the intruders in the valley.Tony has never grown up:his last words are touching.NB: Julie London starred in another Parish movie "the wonderful country" ..
"Twilight Zone" writer Rod Serling tried his hand at writing a western with director Robert Parrish's "Saddle the Wind," an average but unexceptional oater with Robert Taylor, John Cassavetes, and Julie London.
Steve Sinclair (Robert Taylor of "The Law and Jake Wade") had to raise his younger, impulsive brother Tony (John Cassavetes) because they had no parents.
Basically, this is a juvenile delinquent on a range scenario with little to recommend it beyond Cassavetes' spirited performance.The action opens when Tony comes back to their spread, the Double S Ranch, after selling their herd at market.
The surprise is that he has with him his fiancée, Joan Blake (Julie London of "Man of the West"), in a brand new buckboard.
Steve informs Joan that he has been Tony's father and mother since his kid brother was four.
The ranch hand delivers the best line in his response to Steve: "Looking after your brother is like poking hot butter in a wildcat's ear."Meanwhile, a tough hand with a six-gun, Larry Venables (Charles McGraw of "The Narrow Margin"), wanders into the valley looking to kill Steve.
Deneen is upset because he hates violence and wants Steve to run Tony out of the valley.
Steve and Tony pull their six-guns on each other in the high country.The end to "Saddle the Wind" is pretty depressing and there is nothing in Tony's character to explain his mysterious decision.
Three years after James Dean gave us the quintessentially tortured young man in "East of Eden', John Cassavetes brought youthful angst to the western in this very fine but perhaps too hardworking film from Robert Parrish and an uncredited John Sturges.
Yes, Robert Taylor is in it, and Julie London is there, too, as she will also be for Parrish's next western, "The Wonderful Country", but the film belongs to Cassavetes.Cassavetes plays the ever-striving younger brother of a reformed gunfighter, now a rancher, performed with competence by Taylor.
Along with a splendid role for Royal Dano, one of the outstanding character actors of his time, and the smart muddying of ethical clarity that is a hallmark of scriptwriter Rod Sterling, it's the very good work of Cassavetes that makes this really worth watching.