One of my all time favorites.

Just perfect...

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Taking a look at the BBC listings,I spotted a Western double bill.Recording the movies,I found details on Fritz Lang's Rancho Notorious to make it sound a more complex plot to Robert Mitchum's gunslinger,which led to me deciding,that for the first of this Western fest,I would walk to the salon with Big Bob.The plot:Bringing up his son Davy on his own after the tragic death of his wife, David Harvey decides that he and his son need a women round the house. Going to get a servant woman from settlement head Parson Jackson,Harvey gets pushed to accept Rachel as his servant,and to get married to her! Unwilling to accept Rachel as a new women in their lives,the Harvey's live Rachel as a farmhand. Believing that she will never be accepted,Rachel and the Harvey's are woken up by the Harvey's old friend Jim Fairways arriving in town.View on the film:Rushed out when Mitchum was arrested for possessing marijuana,director Norman Foster & cinematographer Maury Gertsman avoid any sign of rebellion, emphasised by Roy Webb whimsical score,soaked up in the stilted shots Foster uses to breath in the superb rural location. Firing an arrow to end the film on a Western battle with the Indians, Waldo Salt's adaptation of Howard Fast's story loads up the Melodrama's "Women's Picture."Entering the Harvey's farm with Rachel,Salt wonderfully shows no fears in highlighting the harsher side of Davy and David,with the memory of their wife/mother leading to them wearing their Melodrama hats,until the arrival of Fairways,leads to them finally becoming aware of who Rachel truly is. Despite some of the dialogue being dry,the cast make the movie sing,thanks to an irresistible chemistry.Pushed around,the elegant Loretta Young gives a charming performance as Rachel,who despite being pushed away by everyone,is given a firm determination by Young.Changing the way the Harvey's (played by a great William Holden and Gary Gray) see Rachel in a new light,Big Bob (who also sings!) gives a terrific performance as Fairways who is given a Folk music glow by Bob's reunion with the family,with Mitchum given Fairways a glint of rebellion in his eyes,as Rachel meets the stranger.

"Rachel and the Stranger" is a story that takes place on the frontier during the early days of the Ohio Territory.Jim Fairways (Robert Mitchum), a frontiersman who likes to disappear into the woods for months at a time, rides onto the property of his friend, Dave Harvey (William Holden), to find that Dave is disconsolate over the death of his wife, Susan. The property has gone to seed and Dave's son, Little Davey, though independent, is fairly neglected.After talking with Dave, Jim says he will be back in the Spring. Dave figures he needs to honor the memory of his wife by giving Little Davey the attention he needs, as his mother had. He rides into town (the fort) to find female help. The preacher knows of a bondwoman who might be bought cheap and he intercedes to facilitate the deal. Her name is Rachel (Loretta Young).The story is about the changes that need to be made by father and son, still pining over Susan's absence. Eventually it takes the return of Jim--who recognizes Rachel's value--to really precipitate things. The story is filled with big moments of action, small moments of interaction, and silent moments of understanding. All three stars are strong in their roles and the boy is played very competently by Gary Gray. This is a charming story that, at its center, is a love story.Holden would arguably hit his stride in a couple of years ("Sunset Boulevard") and Mitchum a few years later ("The Night of the Hunter"). But Young, who was slightly older, was already accomplished. Her performance is quiet, but strong. Given the success of this film and its four complementary performances, a sequel probably would have done well. But we will have to settle for this memorable production.

I have a pet peeve and before I begin I want to say a few words about it. I have done a huge number of reviews and am constantly noticing that even the most mediocre films get scores of 10 from some reviewers. While this is definitely a better than average film, no sane person could say it deserves a score akin to that of GONE WITH THE WIND or THE GODFATHER. I think it's great to love a film, but over-scoring it doesn't lend much credence to your review. Just my two cents worth and I'm sure I'll catch heck for saying it.As for this movie, it's a nice little family film that benefits from being very unique and having several wonderful performances. In this slice of pioneer life film, William Holden and his son are left alone after the death of his wife. Needing a mother for the boy and someone to help out around their frontier homestead, he travels to the nearby fort to find a wife. There, he buys an indentured servant (Loretta Young) and brings her back home after marrying her. Not exactly a romance, I know! Unfortunately, there never really is any romance, as Holden and son treat her more like a hired hand and after a while it's obvious she resents this--especially after she works herself to the bone caring for them. Into this very unhappy situation comes "the stranger" (Robert Mitchum)--who immediately realizes the problem and proposes to take Rachel away from this drudgery--and pay Holden for her! While there is a lot more to the film, this certainly made for an unusual flick.The performances all around are excellent and the film ended on a very good and not especially sappy note. Well worth your time and I have no serious complaints--other than the writer who indicated that Miss Young was playing a lady who was 25 (yeah, right!!). In actuality she was a decade older and she wasn't fooling anyone--but still a lovely woman regardless of the age difference.

Rachel and the Stranger (1947) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Highly entertaining western/comedy/drama has a man (William Holden) losing his wife but buying a slave woman (Loretta Young) and marrying her so that she can school his kid. Things get complicated when he doesn't pay her too much attention and his friend (Robert Mitchum) comes back from the hunting season. For the most part this is your typical love triangle but the incredible performances from the three leads makes this incredibly hard not to love. You've just gotta love a movie that opens with Mitchum walking through the woods singing and playing a guitar. Young and Mitchum also do a duet later in the film that is quite nice. The chemistry between the three stars makes this film work a lot better than it probably should have. There's some nice laughs at the end when the two men finally fight over her as well as suspense during an Indian attack.