User Reviews

I saw this film first in 1961 at the Riviera Theatre in Rochester, New York with my cousins and I loved it. I found out later that John Ford in his cantankerous dotage dismissed all of the work he did after Wings of Eagles as junk.

Well second rate John Ford is far better than first rate from 90% of directors. The film hasn't lost any charm for me even after 44 years.

Army Lieutenant Richard Widmark takes a patrol into Tascosa to fetch Marshal James Stewart back to the fort where Commandant John McIntire has an assignment for Stewart. It's to negotiate with Comanche Chief Quannah Parker for the return of white captives taken during the Indian wars. The rest of the film is what happens to both our leads during that mission and after.

To watch the chemistry between Stewart and Widmark is something to behold. There is a scene at the beginning of the film during the ride back to the fort where Stewart and Widmark sit on the bank of a stream while the horses are being watered. Ford has them engage in some bantering dialog where the characters are established. In the hands of these two consummate professional actors, the scene almost takes on a sublime quality. It's my favorite scene in the film.

As usual Ford rounds out his cast with a lot of his stock company. I have to single out Willis Bouchey. He plays Henry J. Wringle in this film who is along on this trip very reluctantly. He has the second best scene in the film with Stewart as he makes Stewart an offer that he'll pay him a thousand dollars to bring back any white captive around the age of his wife's son by her first husband. This is so he can get back to his business. Stewart's reactions to this offer are also something to behold. Willis Bouchey did so well in so many of Ford's later films, but here and in The Horse Soldiers I think his career peaked.

Second rate Ford is still good enough for me.

Desperate relatives spend years searching for their loved beings abducted by Indians in this lengthy Western . The US Army is under pressure from the families of white captives of the Comanches . A Texas marshal, Guthrie McCabe (James Stewart), is persuaded by an army lieutenant (Richard Widmark) and a Major (John McIntire) to negotiate with the Comanches to secure their rescue and for the return of captives . But the expedition results to be a flop. However, just two prisoners are released ; their reintegration into community proves to be highly difficult , and complications , problems ensue .

This nice Western contains interesting characters , full of wide open space and dramatic moments . Outdoors are pretty good and well photographed by Charles Lawton Jr , story first-rate and powerful told too. Good Western with James Stewart sort playing himself as corrupt and cynical marshal who takes a percentage on his works . Entertaining film thanks to James Stewart for his cynical character and ironic point of sight . Also Widmark is excellent , while a great featured-role acting by veteran John McIntire . Solid support cast leads some eye-catching performances which include Andy Devine ,Jeanette Nolan ,John Qualen, Ken Curtis , Woody Strode, Henry Brandon as Quanah Parker and many others . ¨Two rode together¨ has a similar plot to ¨The searchers¨ though the Ford's vision about West is pretty cynical and less idealist. This classic picture ranks as one of the main of John Ford's works . It contains Ford's usual themes as familiar feeling , a little bit enjoyable humor, friendship and sense of comradeship but also lots of cynicism . Thought-provoking screenplay portraying in depth characters and brooding events with interesting issues running beneath script surface is written by Frank S. Nugent based on a novel by Will Cook , titled ¨Comanche captives . This may not be Ford or Stewart's best Western , as many would claim , but it's still head ad shoulders above most big-scale movies . You'll find the final terrible or over-melodramatic according to your tastes , though it's lovingly composed by John Ford who really picks up the drama towards the ending . Rating : Better than average .

This is not your typical John Ford Western. The usual cast of Ford characters is on hand. Henry Brandon reprises his role as the Comanche chief Scar, which he played so well in the "Searchers". This time he plays a more sympathetic role as the real life Comanche chief Quanah Parker. The evil Clegg clan from "Wagonmaster" is also on hand. They are not quite as evil this time around. The Comanches are played by the usual Navajos recruited for countless Ford Westerns. The awesome arid scenery of Monument Valley has been appropriately replaced by rolling grass covered plains country.

The two protagonists in the film are played by James Stewart and Richard Widmark. Stewart plays a gunfighter serving as sheriff of the Texas town of Tascosa. Widmark is the cavalry officer who summons him to Fort Grant to rescue Comanche captives. They ride together on this mission, which is relegated to a small part in the plot. Although they are friends, their partnership is uneasy from the start. Stewart is going on the mission for money. Widmark is ordered by the colonel (played by John McIntyre) to go. The tension between the two leads at one point to Stewart drawing, but not firing, his gun.

This film contains elements of "The Searchers". Like the other film the theme is captivity by the Indians. Just as in "The Searchers" captivity is viewed as degrading. Linda Cristal plays the captive in this film. "I am not worth fighting for", she says. Ford goes one step further here. Captivity by the Indians is depicted as extremely arduous. The protagonists find few living captives to rescue. The captives they do find are shown as prematurely old and savage. Cristal is an exception. Although she has been a wife to the Comanche chief Stone Calf for five years, she retains something of her aristocratic Mexican upbringing. Perhaps her strong Catholic faith enabled her to avoid the complete degradation typical of captives. Like Debbie in "The Searchers", she has the prospect for redemption. In "The Searchers" it is the strength of the family which provides redemption. Here it is a stagecoach to a new life in California.

The pace in this film differs from many Ford films. There is only one action scene. Much of the film is spent in quiet moments. In the opening scene McCabe (Stewart) is relaxing on the porch of the saloon. It is obvious that he has his law enforcement duties well in hand. In another scene he and Lieutenant Gary (Widmark) are resting on the banks of a river. There is also a significant interlude as the wagon train camps at Oak Creek. There is also a dance at the fort. At the end of the film McCabe returns to Tascosa to find someone else relaxing in his place.

McCabe is an interesting character. His ethics are questionable. He owns 10% of everything in Tascosa, he says. He'll do almost anything for money. He makes it clear to the colonel that he figures that each captive he brings back is worth $500. He then makes a deal with Henry J. Wringle (played by Willis Bouchey) to bring back a boy, any boy, for $1000. Wringle wants to get on with his business and can't afford to waste more time looking for his wife's son. McCabe is more than happy to oblige him, bringing back a boy whose savagery is unquestioned.

In the end there is redemption for both Stewart and Cristal. Both of their characters are interesting and well acted. It is a pity that so many other characters in this movie are wasted. Woody Strode's part as Stone Calf is particularly disappointing. The script gives him very little to say and do. He is around only long enough to go against Stewart in the film's only action sequence. Andy Devine provides much of the film's humor, but is not really credible as what McCabe calls "that hippopotamus of a sergeant".

I wish the film had spent more time focusing on Stewart and Widmark's mission to the Comanche camp as the film's title suggests. Unfortunately, it's only a footnote. Despite the flaws, the leisurely pace and Stewart's portrayal of the amoral McCabe make this film a treat.

Two Rode Together is directed by John Ford and adapted to screenplay by Frank Nugent from the novel Comanche Captives written by Will Cook. It stars James Stewart, Richard Widmark, Shirley Jones, Linda Cristal and Andy Devine. Music is scored by George Duning and Eastman Color cinematography is by Charles Lawton Junior.

The US Army is under pressure to negotiate the release of Comanche captives and send in a party to ransom for their release. Heading the party are cynical hard drinking Marshal Guthrie McCabe (Stewart) and his pal First Lt. Jim Gary (Widmark). The two men are at odds in how to go about dealing with the problem to hand, but bigger issues are just around the corner.....

The Searchers lite it is for sure, Two Rode Together is a mixed bag that hasn't been helped by the quotes attributed by its director. It's well documented that John Ford only did the film out of kindness and a love of money, the great man going on record to say he hated the film, the source and etc. The shoot was far from being a happy one, with the director pitching his two stars against each other whilst grumpily putting his film crew through the mangler. The end result shows the film to be psychitzophrenic in tone and structure, where airy comedy tries to sit alongside some serious themes and fails miserably. When the moral implications of the picture are to be born out, Ford, in his half-hearted approach to the production, comes off as being either clueless, sarcastically mean or going through the motions since he had already made this film as The Searchers. Well clueless is not something you can comfortably say in relation to this particular director....

However, film has strengths, not least with Stewart's over the top portrayal of McCabe. The actor is really giving it the full treatment, no doubt prompted by his director, this is a shallow man, motivated by ale and cash. This is non heroic stuff, he calls it as he sees it, he thinks nothing off telling the longing relatives of the missing that their loved ones are now alien to them. It's a clinical thread in the piece, deftly setting the film up for its telling last quarter as the moral questions are raised and the bitter irony leaves its sour taste. It's a mixed bag indeed, but hardly a disaster, though, and in spite of Ford's irreverence towards it, there's a worthy viewpoint in amongst all the causticism. It's just a shame that all the great individual aspects don't make a complete and rewarding whole, the blend of comedy and drama, this time, not making for a great John Ford picture. 6.5/10

No wonder director Ford considered the movie "crap". That may be a little too strong, but the results are definitely sub-par for the legendary filmmaker. If The Searchers (1956) dealt with whites kidnapped by Indians, the plot here is a reversal: Whites raised as Comanches are ransomed back into the white world, and in the process of reintegration, settler bigotry is exposed. That's a good thoughtful premise but the screenplay can't seem to provide a focus on anything. As a result, the story meanders from event to event in generally unfocused fashion. For whatever reason, writer Nugent can't seem to organize the elements into a coherent, effective narrative.

Then there's the miscasting, especially Widmark as a 45-year old West Point lieutenant, who's supposed to romance a 26-year old Shirley Jones, who looks and acts like she just stepped out of a malt shop. And shouldn't forget poor 55-year old Andy Devine, a very un-cavalrylike cavalry sergeant. Somehow, his grossly over-weight figure is just not that funny. On the other hand, Stewart's not miscast, but this may be the only movie where his usual low-key style gives way to some serious over-acting, which unfortunately overshadows his low-key co-star Widmark. His character is, however, surprisingly dark and combative, an interesting feature.

At the same time, for a western, there's little action, mostly just palaver and clumsy stabs at humor. However, the lynching scene is well staged and a real grabber. Anyway, it's pretty clear that director Ford's heart wasn't really in the production for whatever reason. Unfortunately, the end result is one of the least of his many fine Westerns.

John Ford's last conventional western was his first with Jimmy Stewart; with Stewart first appearing balancing on a chair like Henry Fonda in 'My Darling Clementine' and several of Ford's repertory company still present (including a very eccentric cameo by Mae Marsh).

At first the tone recalls Stewart's later farcical Dodge City interlude in 'Cheyenne Autumn'. But despite the title there's far more talk than riding, and despite a superficial resemblance to 'The Searchers' (from which Henry Brandon returns as a very saturnine Indian chief), Ford wasn't really interested, and the film - as Allan Eyles later wrote - lacks "any real sense of urgency or purpose".

As attractively shot by Charles Lawton in Eastman Color it looks good, however, and it's always good to see either Stewart or Richard Widmark.

I'm not sure why John Ford had such a problem with Two Rode Together as he did (according to the trivia page Ford considered the film "crap" even after his favorite writer came in to make it more like a Ford picture). It brings many of his favorite, or just preferred, themes to come back to: male camaraderie, the very fragile divide between whites and Indians in the late 19th century, and a sense of balance between leisure pace and high dramatic tension and stakes. Maybe he thought he was repeating himself, or had other ideas that didn't make the final cut of the script or lost them in the direction. There's a lot of meat on the bones of Two Rode Together, even if if it does shy away from real greatness. It takes its story seriously, and also leaves some time for some unexpected human comedy between its two leads (or just mostly James Stewart).

It's premise is a little like a re-working or quasi-sequel to the Searchers. In that film Wayne was on a dogged search for his niece after she'd been captured by the Comanches and spends years tracking them down, only to find her totally changed (he still brings her home anyway). In Two Rode Together, a Marshall, about as tough and gruff and cruelly sarcastic as Wayne in that film, and a Major (Richard Widmark, the more level-headed and honorable of the two, if not quite as interesting), are put to task by the army to go to Comanche territory and bring back a few people that had been taken away years ago. Their families are desperate to see them again, and the Marshall is way more reluctant than the Major as he's had more experience with the Comanches (that, and the lack of pay, very shrewd and greedy he is). But they go ahead to the Comanche territory, track down a couple of them, and bring them back. This is halfway through the movie.

The rest of Two Rode Together sees the dire straits of this assimilation, how one of them, a rowdy boy who doesn't speak a lick of English, isn't even thought to be the right son of the desperate mother, and the other, a Mexican, is pushed aside and made to feel an outcast right away. How Ford and his writer presents this isn't very insightful (I'm sure other films have explored the American-Comanche relationship with more depth or subtlety), but it's still entertaining and full of some compelling scenes. And while Ford keeps the drama moving at a nice clip- sometimes leisurely, sometimes with more force like at the dance later in the film- he lets his two stars do a lot of lifting that makes the movie very worthwhile.

Stewart has been this cranky before, but rarely have I found this kind of grumpy but moral Marhsall so well-rounded. We laugh at some of his drunken outbursts because Stewart gives it some irony and sincerity. And there's some real tension brought out between the two characters; when he pulls out a gun he means to use it, even if he doesn't, and it's this uncertainty about him that makes it so interesting (he's not like 'Duke', for example, who you'd expect this kind of behavior). And Widmark is well-cast in this nicer-but-firm role, as a decent man who has to put up with a lot as a friend-partner-watcher of the Marshall, while also putting on a good face to his possible fiancé.

The action is far from heavy here- only one scene with a gun firing at someone, oddly enough it's a pretty weak scene and not well directed by Ford- so it's mostly a character study, more about the decisions they make, the bit players and their words to say in scenes, and what these two men in uniform will do when they complete their mission. By the end their is some redemption and catharsis, and it's not all happy all-around, and its 'issues' it deals with about racial harmony and acceptance is never too heavy-handed. Ford cares about these people, even if he says he's like his Marshall character, just doing it for the money.

John Ford made this film under duress, almost. He hated the script he was given, brought in his regular writing partner Frank Nugent to help, and threw up his hands because he felt it was unsalvageable. He still made the movie out of a sense of loyalty to the Columbia executive Harry Cohn, who had died a few years earlier. It does cover some of the same ground as his masterpiece The Searchers, but it's really no more than a surface level plot resemblance. The end result feels like a script pulled in several different directions to give it some kind of distinctive flavor, but it's a combination of flavors that clash more than they compliment each other, all while swirling around without much of a story to drag them along.

The story begins with Marshal Guthrie McCabe (Jimmy Stewart), sleepily waking up on his porch in the morning, receiving a beer from the owner of the local tavern, and then scarring off a pair of tough looking visitors by simply dropping his name. This sort of nasty reputation is one of a dozen ideas that feel half-formed and poorly implemented. In walks Lieutenant Jim Gary (Richard Widmark), sent from the army fort forty miles away to being McCabe by any means necessary. They go, and it turns out that a group of settlers have camped outside of the fort, looking to McCabe as some kind of savior to bring back some lost children that the Comanche had stolen from them about a decade ago. Here is the similarity to The Searchers, and it's curious from the start. Neither McCabe nor Gary have any personal connection to the missing children, the children have already been gone for years, and it takes forever just to get McCabe and Gary out on the trail.

Really, it takes about an hour for McCabe and Gary to actually start on what essentially ends up being the plot, and that hour is taken up with the mechanics of getting McCabe to the fort, McCabe haggling with Major Frazer (John McIntire) over the price of McCabe's services (he could sit and be corrupt back home for more money), the reason McCabe is necessary (he's had dealings with the Comanche chief Quanah (Henry Brandon) before), and a bunch of little interactions with the settlers. Now, why these settlers are still wandering around without having settled anywhere about a decade after the local Comanche tribe stole their children never gets explained, but they are still living out of wagons and having small spats about which bachelor will catch the eye of the pretty girl Mary (Shirley Jones) whose brother was one of those taken by the Comanche when she was thirteen (making her twenty-one now). The problem I have here is that so little of it ends up mattering, mostly around Ole Knudsen (John Qualen) who seems to have the focus on who should be rescued (his daughter). It doesn't help that Gray begins some kind of romance with Marty that carries no weight, neither emotional nor narrative.

After all of this, the pair finally leave and immediately find Quanah as well as four of the missing people. There's some internal politics about the Comanche tribe with Quanah needing to deal with the rising power of Stone Calf (Woody Strode), none of which really matters. They eventually get two of the captives, a young man and a young woman. The young man, Running Wolf (David Kent), is determined to stay behind, having completely forgotten his white upbringing and seeing himself as Comanche first and foremost. The young woman, Elene (Linda Cristal), is a Mexican woman who also doesn't really want to go back, but neither Gray nor McCabe force her to go. McCabe and Elene end up falling in love because, of course, when Gray decides to go ahead instead of camping for the night, taking Running Wolf with him. The explosion of personalities here is supposed to be the culmination of a long-term conflict, but so little time has been dedicated to them that it feels random rather than something that the film had been building towards.

And then, more than halfway through the film, I think we get to our point. It's sort of taking up the story of little Debbie Edwards in The Searchers by having an exploration of what it would mean to suddenly find oneself back in a white society after having been stolen and forced to live as a Comanche against one's own wishes. Running Wolf reacts badly to it, killing the woman who tries to claim him as her long lost son. Elene tries to reintegrate with McCabe on her arm, but the whispers and impolite questions grate on her until she tries to leave with McCabe shaming everyone before he follows her.

This movie is a mess of ideas. The central point, well what I think is the central point, doesn't really come up until there's only about 30 minutes left in the film. Everything up to that point has been an uncomfortable combination of comedy and drama that never gels while dealing with an assortment of different subplots and ideas that never come together. There's some light entertainment to be had, especially from side characters like Andy Devine's Sergeant Posey, but while Jimmy Stewart does his best with an underwritten character like McCabe, snarling half the time, I've never been able to warm to Richard Widmark as a leading man. I prefer him as a character actor in things like Judgment at Nuremburg instead of the all around good leading man here.

All in all, this really does feel like the kind of movie Ford made out of obligation. He seems to have tried to save it, but that effort might have simply made things worse. The proximity to The Searchers isn't the issue, though. It's that what could have served as a continuation of the earlier film (in the similar way that Rio Grande is a sort of continuation of Fort Apache) gets lost in a bunch of other stuff that never comes together.

The cynical and corrupt Marshal Guthrie McCabe (James Stewart) has a comfortable life in Tascosa, receiving percentages of deals. His lover Belle Aragon (Annelle Hayes) owns a saloon with a brothel and has just proposed to marry him. However, Guthrie is summoned by the US Army Major Frazer (John McIntire) that sends a troop commanded by his friend First Lt. Jim Gary (Richard Widmark) to bring him to the Fort Grant.

When Guthrie meets Major Frazer, he explains that the relatives of prisoners of the Comanche tribe are pressing the army to bring them back home, but the soldiers can not trespass the Indian lands due to a treat with the Comanche. The mercenary Guthrie demands a large amount to negotiate with Chief Quanah Parker (Henry Brandon) the freedom of the white captives. Guthrie travels with Lt. Jim Gary and they rescue the two last captives, a teenager that has been raised by the Comanche and a young woman, Elena de la Madriaga (Linda Cristal), who has been the woman of the leader of the Buffalo Shields Stone Calf (Woody Strode) for five years. Once in the white society, they are outcast by the "civilized" white society and their reintegration is almost impossible.

"Two Rode Together" is another great western by John Ford, with a different story about the difficulty of reintegration of captives of Indians into the civilized society of the white man. The plot entwines comical and dramatic situations with powerful dialogs. James Stewart is fantastic, as usual, performing an unethical greedy man that changes his behavior after meeting Elena, performed by the gorgeous Linda Cristal. Both characters find redemption in the end. Richard Widmark shows a magnificent chemistry with James Stewart and Shirley Jones. In the end, it is hard to point out the civilized and uncivilized societies. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Terra Bruta" ("Raw Land")

"Two rode together" has a beautiful, poetic title, it shows the usual John Ford's art, it avails of Stewart's and Widmark's perfect acting, but it is too sad, too depressing to be really loved. There is no patent hate or war between whites and Indians, nevertheless there is no hope for anybody: to escape violence, to have back their beloved relatives, to overcome prejudice, even to find love. And to see Ford's supporting actors, we are so fond of, involved in a beastly lynch-law, this is really tough to bear; however, we respect the will of the artist. In all this sadness, let me remark a little delightful erotic touch. At the beginning of the movie they say that the pretty saloon-keeper is a tough girl, alleged to take a knife in her garter. At the end, to prevent an impending brawl, she quickly raises her skirt and draws the knife... after all it was true that she had a knife in her garter! With this little present the master John Ford improves a bit our mood.

This is basically "The Searchers" redux, with Jimmy Stewart standing in for John Wayne, and - like him - a flawed hero. But the film is nowhere near as good as its predecessor, except for the technical aspects of the color production values. Dramatically this flick is a comedown from most of of Ford's better earlier movies, even some of the b&w ones.

The interaction between Jimmy Stewart - in his only appearance in a John Ford production - and Richard Widmark's character is first rate and probably the highlight of the movie. Also worth mentioning is John McIntire's fine performance; he was one of the greatest character actors of his day.

The movie begins strongly, with a good premise - the rescue of some white settler children kidnapped long ago by the Cherokee. However the movie loses steam in the second half, as narrative threads begin to drift around. Ford throws in his obligatory social dance scene, which does nothing to advance the action. The ending is not really satisfactory.

It is good to see so many of the John Ford veteran acting team here, although sad to remember that both Ward Bond and Victor McLaglen (who was Scottish, not Irish, by the way) were dead by the time of the movie's release. Andy Devine's role was clearly meant for McLaglen.

Not Ford's greatest work, but worth seeing by fans of the great director.

Enjoying just one more of a steady stream of easy days in his small town, Marshal Gutherie McCabe is visited by US 1st Lt Jim Gary, an old friend. Gary has orders to bring McCabe back to his base for an unknown assignment. Arriving back at the base, McCabe is asked to go into Indian territory so that he might barter for the children (now adults) who were captured by the Comanche many years ago. Despite the chances of actually collecting recognisable (or even civilised) adults from these children, McCabe accepts the job in return for considerable financial recompense. Gary is assigned to accompany him but both men are aware that their mission is only one that will fuel the despair that many already feel.

The only things I knew about this film when I sat to watch this film were that it was a western, starred James Stewart and had been pretty much dismissed it as one he made as a favour for the boss of Columbia Pictures. With this final fact in mind I wasn't too hopeful for the film to really be much cop. True to my expectations the film was average at best, but it started out better than this and offered interesting material at the same time. The film opened with such a relaxed bonhomie that it was a surprise 25 minutes in to see it become more and more edgy, dark and mean. This change in tone comes in with the hurt and anger felt by the townsfolk who hope for something that can never be (the return of their children); in a way this offers potential because the plot cuts both ways and offers a lot of raw emotion if the script can harness it. Sadly the film never really gets to grips with any of this potential and produces a fairly bland and uninvolving story with emotions too simply spelt out in characters that are mainly too basic. The only character that I really felt was semi-realistic was Gutherie who drifts between his good side and more mercenary character; outside of him nothing was done well enough to cover the many problems.

The cast are also part of this potential but few of them really manage to do anything with what little they are given. Stewart does well to turn his usual character into something a bit darker and gives an interesting performance. Widmark is always watchable but he doesn't fit into the story well enough for me. Of the support cast, most are poor or average. Cristal and Jones are painted too clean and don't give good performances, while Kent goes too far the other way with a poor 'savage' performance. However my biggest 'sighs' were saved for the Ford staple comic relief character – in this case Posey who is written with a lack of humour and originally that is only matched by Devine's performance.

Overall this film opened with a nice comic tone that became darker and had me interested due to the change and the potential for the story. However the simple characters, basic emotions and uninspiring acting all combine to miss the mark and produce a rather average western albeit one whose dark tone and subject matter causes it to have some aspects that are interesting and thought-provoking.

This is not the best movie made by John Ford but a good movie anyway, dealing with the usual themes so dear to this great movie director who made the best westerns in the history of cinema: honour, loyalty, freedom, honesty, solidarity and courage. His characters are sometimes a bit stereotyped which is perhaps his main fault: the good and honourable on one side and the bad guys on the other. This movie however shows us the figure of the apparently cynical sheriff (excellently played by James Stewart) whose cynicism conceals very noble sentiments after all. The story is simple but is told in a charming atmosphere and nice sceneries of good old west. And a certain dose of fordian humour is also present to season the viewers' perception. However the movie have some extremely dramatic scenes but whose pathos is not much striking in visual terms. A very balanced movie therefore.

Two Rode Together is not a sophisticated movie but it explores the relationship between kidnapped and captor which, in our more sophisticated times would be referred to as Stockholm syndrome.

A Comanche tribe has been capturing "whites". After a campaign lasting many years the relatives convince the government to try and free these captives. Because a peace treaty has been signed with the Comanche it is decided this is best handled by negotiation… a deal… enter Jimmie Stewart's wheeler-dealing Marshall. As the start of the film we see Stewart sending some mean looking gamblers packing from his town so we know he is not to be messed with.

Of course, after so long many of the captives have either been sold to other tribes or are dead – from battles or exhaustion after being used as slaves. The remainder have more or less developed an attachment for their captors. The reintegration into society is not going to be easy as we will see.

The recent release of an Austrian girl after 8 years in captivity (Natascha Kampusch) puts this movie into some kind of relief. The anguished parents never knowing the fate of their loved ones then the return and questions – surely the hostages must have been complicit and then there are the mixed loyalties of the hostages. Two Rode Together explores these themes but spends too much time lingering on subplots and distractions while not really getting to grips fully with its core subject. Still a surprising theme for a Western.

James Stewart plays an amoral whore-mongering marshal who is co-opted by the cavalry to find a group of settler children who had been taken captive and raised by the Commanches. Every supporting role is perfectly cast and the emotions strike deep to the core. Stewart is surprisingly comfortable playing an archly cynical contemptible mercenary with contempt for nearly everybody and everyone. Linda Cristal is excellent as the Mexican woman who was forced to be the Chief's wife for years. All aspects of captivity and dehumanization are carefully and sincerely explored here, and the twist ending is perfection itself. This is an overlooked classic.

John Ford's Two Rode Together is a Western movie from 1961. Main actors are James Stewart and Richard Widmark. This wasn't a financial success movie and movie critics didn't give good grades.

A corrupt and cynical Marshal Guthrie McCabe (Stewart) and his army friend Lt. Jim Gary (Widmark) go to get white captives taken by Comanches. The U. S. Army and the relatives of the captives give them ransom for living captives. The Comanche Chief agree to give them a couple of captives. Some captives doesn't want to leave after being many years with Comanches. McCabe and Gary take two captives with them: a boy named Running Wolf who hates white people and a Mexican woman named Elena who is the wife of Stone Calf. Stone Calf doens't give his wife away easily. After McCabe and Gary bring the captives back to the white society, Running Wolf and Elena are ostracized by other people. This atmosphere becomes hostile and especially Running Wolf's destiny isn't nice to watch.

I would have expected more from John Ford movie. This isn't as good as The Searchers that is quite same kind of movie. Actors aren't bad. The script just isn't excellent enough. Lack of excitement reduces the grade of the movie. Though James Stewart is as good as usually, Two Rode Together is only quite good Western. 7/10.

This may have been the worst of Stewart's and Widmark's westerns. Part comedy, part drama, it never went all the way in any direction leaving the viewer awash in a horse trough of boring silliness. This was just another in a long line of indian hostage retrieval pictures. Who cast Strode as an injun anyway?