Rancho Notorious (1952)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

Silvia Richards (story)
Daniel Taradash (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 March 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Tagline:

Where anything goes...for a price!

Plot:

A western based on the story "Gunsight Whitman" by Silvia Richards. Vern Haskell, a nice rancher, seeks...

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Chuck A Luck | Ranch | Robbery | Corruption

Cast

Marlene Dietrich	...	Altar Keane
Arthur Kennedy	...	Vern Haskell
Mel Ferrer	...	Frenchy Fairmont
Gloria Henry	...	Beth Forbes
William Frawley	...	Baldy Gunder
Lisa Ferraday	...	Maxine
John Raven	...	Chuck-a-Luck dealer
Jack Elam	...	Mort Geary
George Reeves	...	Wilson
Frank Ferguson	...	Preacher
Francis McDonald	...	Harbin
Dan Seymour	...	Comanche Paul
John Kellogg	...	Jeff Factor
Rodd Redwing	...	Rio (as Rodric Redwing)

Also Known As:

Chuck-a-Luck (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #15331) | West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1986)

Company:

Fidelity Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Director Fritz Lang had originally planned to call this film "Chuck-a-Luck". However, the studio insisted that its name be changed to "Rancho Notorious" and when Lang asked why, he was told that it was because Americans wouldn't understand what "Chuck-a-Luck" (a gambling game commonly played in saloons in the Southwest) meant. Lang replied, "Well, it's a good thing that they all know what 'Rancho Notorious'[which has nothing to do with anything in the film] means!"

Quotes:

Altar Keane: Go away and come back ten years ago.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Marlene (1984)

Soundtrack:

Get Away Young Man

The aging Bandit Queen of the Border Country

Marlene Dietrich is that queen. She earns a dishonest buck running a way station for bad hombres and outlaws on the run. It's sort of a Rick's Café Mexicaine, you might say. Everybody comes to Marlene's.

With young studs vying for a Marlene well past her prime, this isn't so much Home on the Range as it is Camp on the Range. (Do young stallions go for a worn-out nag rather than seek greener pastures and finer fillies?)

There's no fooling with her though. There's no doubt who's really wearing the chaps in this crowd.

Marlene sometimes shows her feminine side. Her briefly-glimpsed lilac dress looked good in gaudy Technicolor. Most of the time Marlene is wearing enough war paint to pass for a Cheyenne in a normal Western.

There is an indescribably bad song which pops up now and again reminding us of things we already know. "Hate ... Murder ... and REVENGE" is the unsubtle refrain. It produces an off-key chorus of snickers from the audience.

Fritz Lang directed this farrago although you'd never guess.

The movie's highlight for me was the saloon steeplechase. Yes, that was cute.

This might appeal to someone who wants an over-the-top anti-Western. I prefer the real thing myself.