Red Mountain

Plot synopsis:
Colorado, 1865: A gold assayer is killed and Lane Waldron is seen leaving, so a posse goes after him and turns into a lynch mob. Lane claims he had a sample from his mine examined by the assayer, but denies shooting him. A noose around Lane's neck is shot in half at the last second by an unseen marksman.
The rescuer turns out to be Brett Sherwood, a Confederate captain from the Civil War. In a hideout, he leaves a gun as a test, and when Lane grabs it and aims it at him, Brett reveals that it's not loaded. Lane's sweetheart, Chris, turns up as well, so Brett takes both of them captive.
Although she has different loyalties than Lane, hating the rebels and General Quantrill in particular for killing her family, Chris frees him from his bonds. Chris is a Southern sympathizer who resents General Sherman's actions in the war on the Union side.
In a struggle, Lane's leg is broken. Brett does everything in his power to help him. He goes to get a doctor. Quantrill and his raiders turn up, and his sergeant, Randall, tries to torture Lane into telling the location of his gold mine. Brett and Chris return with a surgeon, who operates on Lane.
A band of Indians engages Quantrill's men in battle. Lane is shot by a Ute, who is killed by Chris. As he lay dying, Lane says he wants Chris and Brett to have his gold mine. Brett confesses that he was the one who had killed the assayer, who had been trying to cheat him and pulled a gun on him.

Tags: revenge

Review:
One of Paramount's lost gems.
Paramount has a fast-paced drama in this underrated, colorful western that has Union and Rebel soldiers clashing after the close of the Civil War. Alan Ladd stars as a rebel sympathizer and point man for General Quantrell who wants to carve out territory for the Confederacy in Colorado with the aid of wild Indian tribes.
John Ireland, in one of his best roles, plays the renegade Southern general and Brett Sherwood and Quantrell remain on a collision course that results in a thrilling face-off in the film's final moments.
The movie has plenty of shootings, claim-jumping, a lynching scene, Indian fights and a dusty, noisy battle where the soldiers fight at close quarters in well-staged cavalry action.
Lizabeth Scott is good as Ladd's romantic interest as is Arthur Kennedy, always good at playing compromised characters.
A solid cast of western supporting actors is on hand to keep the story moving at a good clip.
Camera work and Franz Waxman's music are good..
Not a classic, but worth catching.
This one is good, but not great, although it had a lot going for it: beautiful color photography of the Southwest, fine Franz Waxman score (somewhat reminiscent of the one he did a year earlier for The Furies, another and superior western), good-lucking leads--two diminutive blonds, both of whom are enjoyably minimal in their expressiveness.
However, they do not have quite the chemistry that Ladd had with Veronica Lake, another diminutive blonde.
In addition, the script could be a little more inventive, but its slant on the actual historical figure of Quantrell is interesting, and John Ireland makes the most of his part.
So the film never quite catches fire the way that The Furies does--and in moody black and white--but it's certainly worth a look..
Quantrill's Agenda.
Red Mountain comes at a point in Alan Ladd's career when he was starting to get known as a western star as well as a noir star.
This was the third western he had done after Whispering Smith and Branded.
The same year of 1951 he also made Shane, but Paramount held up its release for two years.
And he and agent/wife Sue Carol made the decision to leave Paramount around this time.
It turned out to be his worst career move.But doing Red Mountain was far from that.
Ladd plays a Confederate officer who in the dying days of the Civil War goes west to join Quantrill's Raiders.
He's one Southerner not looking to be reconstructed.
But along the way he kills a government assayer and Arthur Kennedy gets blamed for the crime who is also a Confederate veteran.
Ladd rescues him from a lynch mob and Kennedy and wife Lizabeth Scott go along with him to join Quantrill.
Along the way Kennedy breaks his leg.Arriving at Quantrill's camp at Red Mountain, the three of them discover that John Ireland as Quantrill has an agenda all his own that has nothing to do with the Confederate States of America.
He's setting himself up with an alliance of Indian tribes as a new western emperor.
Similar in many ways to Jeff Chandler's character in The Jayhawkers.
His ally is Ute chief Jay Silverheels and Quantrill think the Indians fight best in their own established way which doesn't sit well with Ladd.Quantrill is an interesting figure and none of the Hollywood movies have ever gotten him quite right.
Such people as Walter Pidgeon, Brian Donlevy and now John Ireland have played him as one bloodthirsty individual.
In Red Mountain he's the deepest dyed kind of villain and quite pretentious as well.The film was shot on location in Gallup, New Mexico and the battle scenes are well done and the pace from director William Dieterle is a good one.
Red Mountain is a good western made at a time when the western was maturing in Hollywood..
a lot of action!!.
I always remember when having to choose between 2 films, one of them being John Ford's Rio Grande my father asked the opinion of the shoeshine boy who was polishing his shoes and had seen both.
"Don't go to see Rio Grande he said, it is a western but it has only two action scenes, too little for mine or anybody's taste" That was also my opinion at that time, I was 9 years old.
If instead I would have gone to see Red Mountain, I would have been in paradise.
And I still enjoy this film as if I was a 9 year old.
It is not easy to find a western with so much action as this one, but well planned action scenes with a beautiful background, top stars like Ladd, Lizabeth Scott, John Ireland, Arthur Kennedy and a screenplay that incorporates the action scenes in an intelligent way.
Ladd who is pro Quantrell saves Arthur Kennedy from being lynched but ends up on a mountain together with Kennedy and his girlfriend Lizabeth Scott surrounded by Quantrell who has a lot of Indians on his side.
Good cinematography, good entertainment and a lot of action..
" Alan Ladd And Lizabeth Scott Looking Good ".
Red Mountain is one of those films that has a complex plot but is packed full of gritty action.
The good acting delivered by Alan Ladd, Lizabeth Scott, Arthur Kennedy and John Ireland help to pull this story along at a sufficient pace.
Arthur Kennedy and Lizabeth Scott play a couple who end up at the mercy of Alan Ladd for their survival, caught in a mountain cave.
Ladd plays an out for himself only character at first.
Then enters General Quantrel ( John Ireland ) with his raiders and a group of savage wild Indians.
Scott now must fight off the advances from one of Quantrel's overly amorous men, while Kennedy looks on helplessly with a very badly broken leg.
Meanwhile, Ladd who was once a supporter of Quantrel, soon becomes disillusioned with the deranged General's ideas and decides to foil his evil schemes.
Throw in some sexual tension between Ladd and Scott, a lynching scene, a battle scene, plenty of shooting and beautiful scenery and watch all the action played out in this not a classic, but still very entertaining film.
A great movie for fans of Alan Ladd and Lizabeth Scott, who both look fabulous in colour..
Red Mountain.
*** This review may contain spoilers *** *Plot and ending analyzed* Red Mountain (1951) has some nice color in it, and the New Mexico landscape is lovely, but it's about an average Western.An assayer gets shot by someone at the start.
The town blames a noted Confederate soldier (Arthur Kennedy) and tries to hang him but is saved by Alan Ladd (Shane (1953), Branded (1950)).
They develop a strange relationship, whereby sometimes they try to kill each other, and at others, try to save each other.The scenery is beautiful but there's too much concentration on the cave scene.
It takes up the entirety of the film.
Alan Ladd was waiting for Confederate General William Quantrill to arrive, which he does so, dressed as Union Cavalry, accompanied by Ute Indians, who are fighting against the Union.Arthur Kennedy also knows where some gold is hidden, thus Confederate General William Quantrill wants to get at him.
Alan Ladd then doesn't approve of Quantrill's tactics and helps Arthur Kennedy and Lizabeth Scott.They all hide in the cave and Quantrill and his Indians are camped outside.
Ute Indians can't take the cave, either can Quantrill's (John Ireland) soldiers.
It's manned by an injured Arthur Kennedy and Lizabeth Scott, who seem to be great shooters.
I think they prolonged the cave scene too much.In all, the film is about average, with the likable Alan Ladd acting fine.
Familiar faces like Jeff Corey as Skee, Jay Silverheels as Little Crow, Iron Eyes Cody, and Neville Brand as Dixon hardly get any time on screen.