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West of the Pecos (1945) Rachel and the Stranger (1948)
July 29, 2011 - 7:30 pm
West of the Pecos (1945)
Directed by Edward Killy
Having escaped the stock company of the Hopalong Cassidy films, actor Robert Mitchum was groomed by RKO to be its new B Western star after Tim Holt joined the military.West of the Pecos was Mitchum’s second star turn in the genre, after Nevada, both Zane Grey adaptations, here playing Pecos, a fun-loving cowpoke battling to clear his name of a murder he didn’t commit. Along the way, he crosses paths with a family of vacationing Easterners whose eldest daughter, Rill, (Barbara Hale) has disguised herself as a man to better blend in on the range. Terrific action comes punctuated with gender-bending cheek—offering his sleeping bag to the “boy” on a cold night, Pecos urges, “Come on, get in and cuddle”—suggesting Mitchum’s versatility with genre material that didn’t always play it straight.
RKO. Producer: Herman Schlom. Based on the novel by Zane Grey. Screenwriter: Norman Houston. Cinematographer: Harry J. Wild. Editor: Roland Gross.Cast: Robert Mitchum, Barbara Hale, Richard Martin, Thurston Hall, Rita Corday.
35mm, b/w, 60 min.
Rachel and the Stranger (1948)
Directed by Norman Foster
William Holden gets most of the screen time here as a log cabin widower who buys out the contract of an indentured servant, Rachel (Loretta Young), and makes her his wife for purely practical reasons. Inexplicably cast in a supporting role by RKO, Mitchum nevertheless steals the film as a seductive, singing frontier hunter who lights a fire in Rachel’s heart and sparks a fit of jealously in her husband.
RKO. Producer: Richard H. Berger. Based on a short story by Howard Fast. Screenwriter: Waldo Salt. Cinematographer: Maury Gertsman. Editor: Les Millbrook. Cast: Loretta Young, William Holden, Robert Mitchum, Gary Gray, Tom Tully.
16mm, b/w, 93 min.
