1959 film by Budd Boetticher
Ride Lonesome is a 1959 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott, Karen Steele, Pernell Roberts, Lee Van Cleef, and James Coburn in his film debut.[1] This Eastmancolor film is one of Boetticher's so-called "Ranown cycle" of westerns, made with Randolph Scott, executive producer Harry Joe Brown and screenwriter Burt Kennedy, beginning with Seven Men from Now.[2][3]
Plot
Bounty hunter Ben Brigade catches up with Billy John, who is wanted for murder. When he tries to take Billy to Santa Cruz, one of Billy's associates, hiding in the rocks nearby, fires a warning shot at Ben's feet. Brigade says anyone shoots him, he will kill Billy, so Billy calls off his gang, calling out to Charlie to tell Billy's brother Frank what has happened. When Ben and Billy arrive at a stagecoach swing station, they are greeted by Sam Boone and his partner Whit. Carrie Lane, the absent station master's wife, emerges holding a rifle and orders the men to leave. As a stagecoach approaches in the distance, Boone tells Brigade he knows what he is thinking, that Boone and Whit have been waiting to rob the stage, but that he is wrong. The stage crashes into the corral, with the driver and passengers massacred by Mescalero Indians.
After burying the dead, Brigade and the others hole up at the station, waiting for the Indians to attack. When Carrie, whose husband left to round up some horses scattered by the Indians, voices her concern about him, Brigade says he was a fool to have left her alone. Boone tells Brigade that he and Whit intended to capture Billy and earn an amnesty for all their past crimes by turning him. In the morning, as Brigade is preparing to take Carrie to the next way station, where he expects to find her husband, a band of Indians approaches and one indicates he wants to talk. Brigade rides out to meet the chief, and returns to tell Carrie that the chief has offered to trade a horse for her. Insisting that they play along, Brigade takes Carrie to the chief, but she recognizes the horse offered in exchange as belonging to her husband and screams, prompting the Indians to ride off.
The group leaves for the next way station, but when Brigade spots some Indians take cover at a nearby adobe shack. They shoot several Indians and when Carrie kills the chief with her rifle, the remaining Indians leave. That night, Boone tells Whit that he thinks Brigade is making it easy for Frank to follow them, but doesn't know why. The next morning, Billy holds a stolen rifle on Brigade, but Boone says it's his rifle and it's not loaded. Eventually Billy drops the rifle, but when Boone picks it up he pulls the trigger to show that he has tricked Billy. As they continue on, Boone offers to pay Brigade the price on Billy's head if he will hand him, but Brigade refuses. Frank and his gang arrive at the shack half a day behind the others. At first Frank is puzzled that Brigade has not bothered to conceal his tracks and finally realizes that Brigade wants him to catch up so that he can avenge a past offense.
Less than a day before they reach Santa Cruz, Brigade and the others pass a hanging tree. Brigade becomes irritable and orders them to camp. Whit tells Billy about the amnesty. Billy says that Frank will kill all the others when he comes for Billy, but Boone arrives and tells Whit to shoot Billy if he tries to get them to let him go. Boone tells Carrie that he will look out for her and warns her that Brigade will never reach town alive. Carrie voices her disgust over killing for money, and Brigade confides that his real target is Frank. When Brigade was sheriff of Santa Cruz, he arrested Frank, who after being released from jail kidnapped Brigade's wife and hanged her from the tree.
Having overheard the story of his wife's murder, Boone offers to cover Brigade in his confrontation. Brigade orders Billy to mount his horse, slips a noose around Billy's neck and leads him to the hanging tree. When Frank and his gang arrive, Brigade challenges Frank to stop the hanging. Frank opens fire, causing Billy's horse to bolt and leave Billy swinging from the tree. Brigade kills Frank and shoots the rope hanging Billy from the tree, while Boone and Whit chase off the rest of the gang. Brigade turns Billy over to Boone and warns him to keep his promise about going straight. After the others ride off toward Santa Cruz, Brigade sets the tree on fire.
