Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Absolutely Fantastic

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I finally caught this film in its entirety on the Fox MOVIES!!! channel (or whatever they call it), and it has more than its share of compelling moments. Given the personnel and the people behind the production, one might suspect that this was a project aimed at television, except that A) it is apparently intended to be shown in 1.85-to-1 aspect ratio (irrelevant to TV in 1966) and B) it is so violent that it is difficult to believe that it could have gotten on the air without some serious cuts, and there is no way that the makers wouldn't have known this in 1966. But the director and producers were the same people behind the series BRANDED, starring Chuck Connors, which went out of production at just about the time that this movie was released.Chuck Connors plays Jonas Trapp, a proud but poor laborer in a small western town who -- as we learn from the backstory unfolded in a string of flashbacks -- married the wealthiest young woman in town (Kathryn Hays). Unable to abide the ease of their life together, or to persuade her to join him in building up a fortune of their own, he lights out for the frontier to become a buffalo hunter, and, as the movie opens (following an introductory section set in 1966), he is returning home after 11 years, carrying over a decade's worth of hard-earned cash. Alas, he has the bad luck to chance on a small encampment, seemingly abandoned, and is accused by three riders of trying to rustle the calf that is found bound nearby. The leader of this trio, Coates (Claude Akins), is drunk and a little crazy to start with, and wants to hang Trapp as a rustler; the banker Durham (Michael Rennie), talks him out of that, despite the egging on off sleazy, fancy-dan hanger-on "Johnnsy" (Bill Bixby). So instead, they put a large branded "T" on his chest and leave him for dead, and one of the trio takes Trapp's money before abandoning him. He doesn't die, however, partly through the intervention of seemingly kindly farmer Hanley (Paul Fix), who chances along to find him. Realizing what has happened to him, and seething with rage, Trapp goes into town, where all three of his attackers live. His own wife, not knowing who he is after 11 years absence, rejects him violently. But he manages to track down his attackers, one by one, over the next 24 hours, and takes revenge on each of them. But more difficult than vengeance will be any possibility of putting his life back together, not only in the wake of his maiming but also the 11 years dividing him from his wife. And complicating matters further is the fact that she was preparing to marry Durham. There's a pretty good pacing to this picture, despite having at least one foot in old-style Hollywood story-telling. And the violence, when it comes, is rather startling to see, given the vintage of this picture (could it have been intended for overseas distribution?). And director Andre Fennady has a good handle on action and narrative, so that not a huge amount of time is wasted. But -- and this is a big caveat -- the movie falls short in many ways. It's all well and good to have startling images and convincingly nasty villains of all types. But this is still a fairly flat western compared either to the Italian-financed oaters that were making their way across the Atlantic (most notably those made by Sergio Leone starring Clint Eastwood, natch). Fennady has no sense of the over-the-top dramatic nuance that made not only Leone's westerns, but also those of Sergio Sollima and other filmmakers of the era, so indelible to the viewer. The action here is just that, action, with no dramatic artistry. And Richard Markowitz, try and he might, never does come up with a sufficiently memorable soundtrack to underscore that action. This is a good try at something different in the genre -- and kind of remarkable, coming from Goodson-Todman Productions (yes, the game show guys) -- but I'd rather watch A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS or THE BIG GUNDOWN. On a more positive note, it is entertaining to see these actors in something this jarring in its viciousness, and the supporting players populating the screen: Joan Blondell, Gloria Grahame (in too short an appearance), Gary Merrill, Frank Gorshin, and Buddy Baer, along with a youngish Jamie Farr; and, in the framing sequences, James MacArthur and Arthur O'Connell.

Returning home after toiling eleven years as a buffalo hunter in order to to provide for his rich, estranged wife, Chuck Conners (in a terrific performance) is beaten, branded, and robbed of his life savings by banker/gambler Michael Rennie, psychotic dandy Bill Bixby, and drunken cowboy Claude Akins. (and Akins imaginary friend!) Needless to say that Chuck's infuriated when he finds out that Rennie is courting his wife.Ride Beyond Vengeance is uniquely bookended by modern scenes of a visiting census taker being told the story by a bartender, in the exact place where Conners' vengeance went down. It gives the unfolding events both a feel of historical significance and a sense of western mythology.Co-produced by game-show impresario Mark Goodson, this is stark, mean film, truly top-notch in terms of characterization and story. Anyone who thinks the Italians had a monopoly on hard-boiled, violent westerns in the sixties really should see this!Bixby is a lot of fun to watch, especially in the scene where he's confronted by Conners on a lonely road and made to squirm. Frank Gorshin's description of the aftermath is incredible!An exciting climax features one helluva rowdy fight between Between Chuck and Claude Akins.I highly recommend this!

"Ride Beyond Vengeance" is a gritty, violent, but far from unsavory frontier western revenge saga starring Chuck Connors that could almost be mistaken for a Spaghetti western, except for its polished production values, its humane characters, and its offbeat ending. Hollywood wasn't making westerns like this until a few years later after the Spaghettis had taken violence to more intense, savage levels. In fact, in 1968, Chuck Connors followed a stream of American leading men who migrated to Europe to cash in on the Spaghetti western craze and played in a forgotten but rip-snorting little shoot'em up called "Kill Them All and Come Back Alive." Derived from Al Dewlen's novel "Night of the Tiger," "Ride Beyond Vengeance" begins in the contemporary Texas town of Cold Iron when an exhausted census taker (James MacArthur of CBS-TV's "Hawaii 5-0") visits a cafe and points out to the man behind the counter (Arthur O'Connell of "The Poseidon Adventure") that three names are popular with the town's folk. The narrator explains the relevance of those names and links them to a legend about a vengeful man who went on a rampage in Cold Iron when it was a frontier berg. Veteran TV director Bernard McEveety, who helmed episodes on virtually every major TV western series, including "Gunsmoke," "Branded," "Laredo," "Bonanza," and "Rawhide," takes us back to the past as O'Connell begins his narration about the turbulent events that rocked Cold Iron to its roots.The first set of flashbacks open with rugged Chuck Connors sporting a shaggy beard and riding a horse through the wilderness. We learn that he had left his hometown eleven years and also had deserted his pretty wife. During that decade he lived as a buffalo hunter and earned $17-thousand dollars shooting and killing the beasts for their hides. On his way back to Cold Iron, Jonas (Chuck Connors of "The Big Country") spots a campfire. Although he finds nobody at the camp, he helps himself to the coffee and then notices a roped calf nearby. At that point, things take a turn for the worst. Three men emerge from the brush and get the drop on him. Crazy, pistol-toting Elwood Coates (Claude Atkins of "Return of the Seven"), handsome, well-dressed Johnsy Boy Hood (Bill Bixby of CBS-TV's "My Favorite Martian"), and local banker Brooks Durham (Michael Rennie of "The Day The Earth Stood Still") accuse Jonas of rustling cattle. Naturally, our innocent protagonist denies their allegation. Coates wants to string up Jonas. Brooks persuades them not to hang Jonas, but Johnsy Boy devises something rather sadistic instead of hanging. He wields a branding iron and sears a T-shape mark into Jonas' chest and our hero passes out. McEveety shows us the branding iron from Jonas's point of view so that the glowing end is hovering in our faces.We learn from another flashback in writer/producer Andrew J. Fenady's screenplay that Jonas came from the wrong side of the tracks and married a town girl, Jessie (TV actress Kathryn Hays), despite the protests of her wealthy mother. Jessie lied to her Aunt Gussie (Ruth Warrick of "Citizen Kane") and told her that she was pregnant in order to wed Jonas. Eventually, Jonas gets fed up with living with his aunt. He hates the fact that he cannot find a decent job and must do the work of a boy for the pay of a boy. Jonas tries to convince Jessie to leave her aunt and start life anew, but she refuses to abandon her ailing aunt. Jonas rides off and Jessie discovers that her wealthy mother was up to her ears in debt and Jessie has to rely on Durham to help her survive.Eventually, Jonas recovers from the branding and discovers that his $17-thousand dollars is missing. He rides into Cold Iron and finds Johnsy Boy, follows him into the brush, and threatens to brand him as Johnsy had branded him. At the last minute, as Jonas is about to relent, Johnsy Boy seizes the branding iron, brands himself and disappears howling mad insane into the wilderness. Later, Elwood learns about the missing money and he tries to kill Brooks. Elwood gets into a knuckle-busting fight with Jonas and they destroy the local saloon before Jonas shoots him. Brooks confesses to the townspeople that he stole Jonas' money. When everything is said and done, Jonas lets Brooks live and leaves the town and his wife again.Director Bernard McEveety must have relished this opportunity to make a grim, unrelenting western as opposed to the family friendly western fare that he had done for prime-time television. Everybody uses some profanity, primarily "Hell" and "bastard," and Fenady's flavorful dialogue is rift with interesting slang. "Ride Beyond Vengeance" isn't exactly memorable, but it is gripping throughout its 101 minutes and boils over with melodrama. Bill Bixby and Claude Atkins shine as venomous villains. Atkins' ruffian character carries on a conversation with an imaginary character called 'Whiskey Man.' McEveety stages a standard knock down, drag-out brawl in a saloon between Atkins and Connors that was a little rougher than usual. The supporting cast is almost too good for this minor western. In the process seasoned Hollywood celebrities like Joan Blondell and Gloria Grahame are squandered in peripheral roles as is Frank Gorshin who has one big scene where he describes the grisly death of Bill Bixby's character, particularly how Johnsy Boy's guts resembled blue snakes. The atmospheric title song by Glenn Yarbrough has some catchy lyrics. Writer/producer Fenady went on to produce the John Wayne epic "Chism," but "Ride Beyond Vengeance" surpasses "Chism" in terms of its violence and its villains. Most but not all of the action takes place in a Hollywood western set that looks too polished for it to be a Spaghetti western. Nevertheless, Connors makes a convincing, sympathetic hero who loves cats. Not bad for its kind.

I grew up in Bay Saint Louis Mississippi.My Mother was makeup artist for the Little Theatre there(mid fifties).Under her influence I did my first role there(in my mid teens).The best character actor with the group was a man by the name of Mark Solomen.He helped coach me in my first role.At the time, he had just read what he said was the best western novel he had ever read.He ended up giving me the book. It was an original hard bound version called "Night Of The Tiger". I agreed it was a great novel even though it was the author's first attempt. At the time, I had no way of knowing that through a most unique set of circumstances I would end up launching a career in films myself(on Yancy Derringer, in 1958).Because I am a good horseman as well as a western type(6'4"anglo),by the mid sixties I was a seasoned veteran of the westerns of the era in both TV and feature films. In the early sixties I became friends with Chuck connors,and ended up working for him as standin and horseback double on some of his western projects including Rifleman, Cowboy in africa,and Branded. It was when we were doing the Branded series,and the time came for us to shut down for hiaetus.I was told we would be doing a movie with a thirty day shooting schedule in the meantime, and that I would shortly be called in to do make up and costume tests for Chuck,on lot three at MGM,with a skeleton crew. When that day came,I reported to the Paramount Sunset lot where I got into a stretch limo with all the key personnel including director, producer(Andrew Fenady),makeup artist, costumer etc. On the way to MGM the producer and director were discussing how meaty some of the main character's dialogue was. As they quoted him it began to sound familiar to me so I turned to andy(the producer)and asked what's the name of this film. I could'nt believe it when he said "Night Of The Tiger". Needless to say I related the above story to him. It turns out he had found the paperback version in a west hollywood supermarket while his wife was buying groceries. And of course he responded to the book the same as Mark Solomen had all those years earlier back home,and he went right out and bought the movie rights. On the first day of production I brought the book with me and gifted Andy with it. Andrew Fenady was one of the youngest and most brilliant producers I have ever known. In fact he and Nick adams created Johnny Yuma "the rebel". Who else could have pulled together such a cast for a "quickie" western. There can be no question but that this cast was drawn to the project by the power of the story. Imagine,Bill Bixby,Jim Mc Arthur,Claude Akins,Paul fix,Michael Renny,etc. The only thing I disagreed with Andy on was the change of title. He felt that Night Of The Tiger sounded like a jungle movie. This film remains in my top ten favorite westerns (with some of clint eastwood's spagetti westerns). It is also one of the most unique coincidences of my life.