Jacomedi A Surprisingly Unforgettable Movie!

Animenter There are women in the film, but none has anything you could call a personality.

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

MartinHafer The film begins with Mike Ryan (Joel McCrea) heading to a town by stage. They end up being robbed and when one of the robbers loses his mask, his partner blows him away...as he's a man who wants no one to know his identity. That's because in town he's a respectable guy...which is why the sheriff is having a hard time figuring out who's been robbing the stage coaches. Now that Mike's in town to help, perhaps they'll finally have some action.I had to laugh when folks in the movie kept complaining how old the sheriff was and how they needed a young guy...like 52 year-old McCrea (who actually looks a bit older). Still, he was fine in westerns and this one won't disappoint...nor will it particularly impress because so much of the story seems ordinary and familiar.

whitec-3 Other posters are right to mention this film's formal qualities—strong acting, excellent b/w cinematography, and poignant touches like the villain's piano interludes and Carolyn Craig as the farm girl—along with the film's historical status as a late specimen of the B western film when television was chock-a-block with shoot-em-ups.This transitional historical moment gives Heartbreak Ridge a hybrid quality, as it combines the movie western's intensity and depth of character with the TV western's bare staging. The script itself could hardly offer less to work with, with the back-stories for the hero and villain being provided only by Joel McCrea's Irish affectations and Mark Stevens's 2 or 3 lines about having the talent to play the piano but not the money or leisure. "Gunsight Ridge" is a good title, but if like me you wait in westerns for at least some allusion to explain a title, for this one you have to wait until someone casually mentions a border obstruction that will provide the setting for the final showdown.The western in any medium is always fairly minimalist—the more I've watched, the more words seem only pauses in action, landscape, and music. Given such plain fare, skill matters more than brilliance: for instance, Joel McCrea could ride a horse, and the cinematographer knew how to capture his skill. Cameo bonus: the groom in the quirky border town marriage is the late Jody McCrea, who would play the comic Bonehead in early 60s surfing-beach movies with Annette and Frankie.

TedMichaelMor The reviewer who praises the cinematography for this film makes a great point. This film is beautifully photographed.Ernest Lazlo's discriminating deep focus black and white cinematography is the glory of this film but much else deserves praise. For one thing, the narrative breaks cinematic icons in a way the foretells "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". These iconoclastic moments run throughout the film. One of the most central is the sympathetic view of the central outlaw Velvet Clark, who, though not quite the protagonist, almost serves as one. Joel McCrae plays against him with a quite almost bond that nearly gives the film a sense of depth.A lovely iconoclastic sequence comes near the end of the film with the late Carolyn Craig playing a farm girl caught in the "romance" of the outlaw. She died much too young.Robert Golden and Ellsworth Hoagland's editing is discerning. The music does not quite overwhelm viewers and I like that.Director Francis Lyon's work is understated. He was a film editor and one has a sense he had the story well in control as he directed this film. He did some terrific television work and a Disney film set in North Georgia that I especially admire.I think what one has here is a film full of promise with an almost witty script by Talbot and Elisabeth Jennings. I say almost because it never quite becomes entirely iconoclastic but it comes close. I very much enjoyed watching this movie.

DaveSFV Better than average western. Lots of studio lot actors that you always recognize but rarely know their names. Nice scenes with Slim Pickens (stage coach driver) and Dan Blocker (bartender). I did not recognize L Q Jones though, he was one of the four ruffian ranch hands. Story line wanders a bit but not objectionably so, and actually helps to keep your interest as it is not a plain, bad guy gets caught by good guy, that Republic Pictures turned out during that era. There was one element that is a constant in westerns of that era and that is the single daughter living with her single dad, the sheriff and his daughter. I also enjoyed the filming locations. One was very obvious as being Old Tucson and the others I suspect were in the Northern San Fernando Valley or maybe close by Santa Clarity Valley or Simi Valley. Worth watching if you enjoy old black and white westerns, better than average actors, and a more complicated story line.