Ride the Pink Horse

Robert Montgomery directs and stars in this 1947 film noir—set in a dusty but strikingly atmospheric New Mexico border community—that explores themes typical of postwar dramas and crime movies. Montgomery is Lucky Gagin, a working-class thug who returns from combat disillusioned and angry, and Fred Clark (looking more like a middle-management functionary than a criminal tough guy) is Frank Hugo, the war profiteer Gagin tries to blackmail as revenge for the murder of one of his pals back East. This is organized crime as big business, and our streetwise but unworldly anti-hero is clearly out of his depth, but he has guardian angels looking out for him: a paternal federal agent (Art Smith), the affable owner of a rickety carousel (Thomas Gomez), and a naïve but courageous Native American teenager (Wanda Hendrix) in town for a festival. Both tough and touching, with stylized scenes and crackling dialogue (scripted by the great Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer, from the novel by Dorothy B. Hughes), Ride the Pink Horse doesn't carry the sense of doom common to film noir, but the cast of crooks and double-crossing schemers is as mercenary and cowardly as any you'll find in the genre. Despite a devoted following among noir buffs, the film is only now making its debut on DVD and Blu-ray, with extras including audio commentary, an interview with film noir expert Imogen Sara Smith, and a 1947 radio adaptation. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)