Ride Lonesome

Released Feb 15, 1959

1h 13m

Western

List

90%

10 Reviews

Tomatometer

71%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Bounty hunter Ben Brigade (Randolph Scott) is on his way to California with his prisoner, Billy John (James Best), who is unaware that Brigade is really after his brother, Frank (Lee Van Cleef). The pair stop at a frontier post and and find themselves defending the poorly guarded settlement from a Native American assault. When the widow Mrs. Lane (Karen Steele) decides to accompany them to Santa Cruz, Brigade enlists the aid of two outlaws who may have a hidden agenda of their own.

Read More

Read Less

Watch on Fandango at Home

Premiered Jan 23

Buy Now

Fandango at Home

Prime Video

Rent Ride Lonesome on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

Beautifully scripted by Burt Kennedy, with excellent performances all round as the characters evolve through subtly shifting loyalties and ambitions, it's a small masterpiece.

Oct 28, 2006

Full Review

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

There is hardly any pretense of action or suspense as the characters move, almost aimlessly, through an open landscape, testing each other's strengths and weaknesses through conversations that become psychological chess games.

Oct 28, 2006

Full Review

Michael J. Casey

Michael J. Cinema

It might be the best of the Ranown Cycle, a series of tough and economical westerns Randolph Scott, Budd Boetticher, and Harry Joe Brown made for Columbia Pictures.

Rated: 5/5

Sep 27, 2023

Full Review

Michael Barrett

PopMatters

Wait till Ride Lonesome shows its hand. Boone utters a line that could summarize the Ranown films: “Funny, ain’t it, how a thing can seem one way and then turn out altogether somethin’ else.”

Sep 13, 2023

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

It’s the interaction between the various characters that keeps this one humming.

Rated: 3/4

Jul 23, 2023

Full Review

A.S. Hamrah

n+1

Nothing is wasted in the stripped-down clarity of Ride Lonesome's eighty minutes. This is the apotheosis of the classical western.

Nov 29, 2018

Full Review

Read all reviews

Bill B

This one is over rated in my opinion. Scott is stiff, Roberts swaggers with his Adam Cartwright persona (to poor effect), Coburn is under utilized, and Van Cleef has scant screen time. The story is typical Hollywood invention and makes little sense when analyzed. Nice scenery, though.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

08/13/23

Full Review

Krush J

James Coburn and Lee Van Cleef certainly weren't challenged with their limited roles. The storyline plodded along with no great climax. Nothing about this western stood out.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

07/05/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Really good one here you need to watch it James Welch, Henderson Arkansas my 20 for you 2023

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

05/26/23

Full Review

William L

My favorite scene in this movie is when the small group bunks down for the night while less than a day's ride from Santa Cruz, with bandits and war parties on their tail, and then none of them can sleep and then they spend the night talking to each other. Just a suggestion, but if you all can't sleep, then just keep on riding? Like many low-budget Westerns, a lot of the conflict in this movie isn't super well thought-out. Trying to craft a sense of danger both from external threats and from within the ragtag band of protagonists and anitheroes, the established director/screenwriter team of Boetticher and Kennedy dangle an inevitable confontation between Scott's jaded former sheriff Ben Brigade (who sounds like he should be an Australian ally of G.I. Joe in name alone) and Roberts' Boone, an outlaw looking for clemency through a valuable bounty. But it doesn't really need to happen - Brigade is never shy about the fact that he wants their shared prisoner to lure out his brother (played by Lee Van Cleef, who is not in this film nearly enough to match his reputation or his character's supposed fearsomeness), who killed Brigade's wife years prior, but Boone tries to coerce a gunfight out of him at the end anyway; it all seems forced. Aside from that, Ride Lonesome is a tightly paced and relatively well-designed bit of traditional Western fare with no extra fat left on the meat, and demonstrating Boetticher's eye for crafting well-designed action scenes and Kennedy's taste for classic character dynamics. I'll admit I like my Westerns with a bit more cutting commentary or slick style, but this is a plenty fine film on its own merits. (3/5)

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/29/21

Full Review

Audience Member

RIDE LONESOME by Budd Boetticher is a wonderful way to spend the evening. While classified as a Western, in many ways it's an "inverted noir" set in the West. It has many characterizations and narrative underpinnings found frequently in noir films, but it goes in a different direction. It also flips the tensions of 3:10 to Yuma (any version) on their head. In 3:10, the people moving the gang leader are prey for the rest of the gang. In Lonesome, it's clear that the moving of the gang leader is being used as a means to hunt the gang. Small in scope, but big in drama.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

In his day, Randolph Scott was the Western Star.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/15/19

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Budd Boetticher

Director

Randolph Scott

Ben Brigade

Karen Steele

Mrs. Carrie Lane

Pernell Roberts

Sam Boone

James Best

Billy John

Lee Van Cleef

Frank

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

100%

66%

Buchanan Rides Alone

94%

79%

3:10 to Yuma

75%

55%

Cowboy

80%

48%

They Came to Cordura

100%

70%

Comanche Station

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Synopsis

Bounty hunter Ben Brigade (Randolph Scott) is on his way to California with his prisoner, Billy John (James Best), who is unaware that Brigade is really after his brother, Frank (Lee Van Cleef). The pair stop at a frontier post and and find themselves defending the poorly guarded settlement from a Native American assault. When the widow Mrs. Lane (Karen Steele) decides to accompany them to Santa Cruz, Brigade enlists the aid of two outlaws who may have a hidden agenda of their own.

Director: Budd Boetticher
Production Co: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Genre: Western
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 15, 1959, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2013
Runtime: 1h 13m

Most Popular at Home Now