A classic example of film noir, this picture has been recently restored and issued on DVD and Blu-Ray after decades of neglect. A three-minute unbroken single take opens the film as Gagin (director Robert Montgomery, also starring) gets off a bus, moves a gun from his briefcase to under his coat, places an object in a bus terminal's locker then hides the key behind a wall map. He is in the desert town of San Pablo (a fictional version of Santa Fe, New Mexico). Gagin is mob muscle on a personal quest of vengeance against Mr. Hugo (Fred Clark). Hugo and his entourage have come to San Pablo for the annual festival celebration and are staying at a four-star hotel in town. Along the way, Gagin bonds with two of the local residents: Pilar (Wanda Hendrix, very very good) a Native American teen who preternaturally sees Something in Gagin and Pablo (Thomas Gomez, Oscar nominated, the first Latino actor to have that privilege) who admires Gagin for being able to hold his own during a night of heavy drinking. "Ride The Pink Horse" is a true jewel just getting its deserved praise. A dark hardboiled tale touched with a measure of the meaning of friendship and personal loyalty. The Latino and Native American populations are never demeaned. In fact, the final image is a very sensitive shot of Pilar. PERSONAL NOTE: "Ride The Pink Horse" was almost entirely shot on sound stages in Los Angeles, but is important to New Mexicans (like me) for a few short seconds of film taken during Fiesta week in Santa Fe during 1947 that include the large effigy called Zozobra who is burned the night before Fiesta begins and is supposed to send peoples' troubles up in smoke.
Review of Ride the Pink Horse
