Ramrod [VHS] Overview
An esteemed educator in L.A. used to show Ramrod to his film noir classes. A Joel McCrea Western a film noir? Few noirs come packing more deception, betrayal, ambiguity (psychological and narrative), and sadism (physical and psychological). Add a camera strategy that habitually latches on to a character and backtracks before him as he enters an unknown environment, and you've got a fine study in (fully justified) frontier paranoia. André De Toth claimed that the assignment was handed off to him by John Ford, no less. There's nothing Fordian about Ramrod, but it does anticipate the run of edgy Westerns that De Toth would direct in the '50s. Excellent cast, including Mrs. De Toth (Veronica Lake) as a femme fatale with father issues; a distinctive, sharply imagined Western town; an innovative sound mix attentive to nature and environment; and strong cinematography by Russell Harlan, soon to become Howard Hawks's favorite cameraman. --Richard T. Jameson
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