Beautiful, moving film.

Absolutely the worst movie.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Yes, stages were often pulled by mules, rather than by horses, as in most westerns. Although in most westerns, we are interested in the passengers or strong box, as articulated elsewhere, without their mail-carrying function, we would have had to charge passengers more than their $200. from San Francisco to St. Louis or vice versa, for a 25 day bone-rattling journey.This is the first of 2 films I'm familiar with in which Ty Power and Susan Hayward costarred. The second: "Untamed", is also essentially a western, only Zulus replace Native Americans as their adversaries. Both are worth a look and available at You Tube. This film mainly deals with the relationships between 4 escaped prisoners, and the other inhabitants of an Overland relay station at Rawhide Pass. Originally, this included crusty Edgar Buchanan as the regular stationmaster, who is giving the son of the head of the eastern division of Overland a taste of what it's like to be a stationmaster in the West. Unfortunately, during an altercation with the 4 escapees, who had taken over the relay station, he was shot dead. This left Ty(Tom) and Susan(Vinnie)as the only other adults at the station between stage stopovers. In addition, Susan is carrying her deceased sister's baby, Callie, to be deposited with relatives in Missouri. Of the escapees, Zimmerman(Hugh Marlowe)is the self-appointed leader,since he apparently engineered the escape the others only incidentally took advantage of. He has a problem with Jack Elan(Tevis), who is very persistent I his goal of having sex with Susan. Zimmerman figures he needs Ty to help convince the drivers that everything is normal, when they arrive. Since Susan is assumed to be Ty's wife, Zimmerman doesn't want Ty upset by the 4 forcing themselves on Susan. Finally, Elan has had enough of Zimmerman interfering in his plans, and shoots him dead, also killing companion Gratz(George Tobias), for good measure. Since the other escapee, Yancy(Dean Jagger) had wandered off somewhere, that leaves Elan as the only escapee right around the station. Susan is running around looking for Callie, who has wandered off. Meanwhile, Elan and Ty engage in s gun battle. When Callie wanders into view, Elan changes his target to her vicinity, with the warning that he will be more accurate in the future if Ty doesn't come out with his hands up. Ty complies, with the prospect of being shot as he moves toward Elan, as commanded. But, Susan sees the situation and finds Gratz's riffle beside his body, shooting Elan dead just in the nick of time. The ending leaves the fate of Yancy up in the air. Also, any possible future relationship between Ty and Susan is left to the viewer's imagination. At one point, the escapees were very interested in a large gold shipment said to be on the next stage from the West. However, this seems to have been forgotten about in the ruckus surrounding Elan's pursuit of Susan, and Elan's killing of his compatriots..Calli, a toddler, does her parts well, giving us a fright as she wanders around the legs of the mules. She cries appropriately when Elan is shooting slugs in her direction, that kick up dust nearby.I would say that "Hangman's Knot", which has a screen play rather like this one, is more interesting, as is "Untamed", which I previously mentioned. See the latter film, as well as the present one at YouTube.

Hugh Marlowe and Jack Elam make a marvelous pair of villains and they have some splendid confrontations here. The scene in which Marlowe knocks a glass out of Elam's mouth is a classic. Hathaway's driving direction makes the most of the suspenseful script. Location filming is a terrific asset. Violence rivets the attention. The cast rates as first-class, though Miss Hayward's odd hair style is a distraction and we hate the soggy, typical Hollywood revelation about the child. Fortunately, it's not particularly important. I also loved the music score and the off-screen narration.Many years ago, the director of a stage play fell ill just before rehearsals were due to commence. The producer asked me to fill in as director. Fortunately, the actors had already been selected, so the first thing to do was to hand every one of them a copy of the play. They all rushed away and I settled down with the stage designer to discuss moving the Third Act from the dinner table to a large drawing room which would incur no expensive or distracting extras like food and drinks. We'd hardly got started on this discussion before the actors started to trickle back, one by one or two by two. Within an hour, the whole lot of them surrounded me. When I asked them how they had enjoyed the play, it soon became obvious that not a single one of them had actually read the play from start to finish. All they'd looked at were their own roles! Amazing, but true! So that, I figure, is how Ty Power – who was then Fox's top-ranking star – became involved in Rawhide. Ty has a sizable part, yes, but it's a rather colorless role. Just about everything he does or says is overshadowed by other members of the cast. In fact it often appears that the sole function of Ty's character is to feed lines to – and provide "business" for – the other players, particularly Jack Elam, Hugh Marlowe and Susan Hayward. In fact, even actors with much smaller roles such as Edgar Buchanan benefit from Ty's feed. And it's little Judy Ann Dunn who figures as the "star" of the climax rather than Ty or any other player. As one reviewer commented, Ty played a bumbling greenhorn from first to last. No wonder the movie was not popular with the masses! I feel sad that it failed at the box office. For me, it rates as one of Henry Hathaway's best films. And it certainly provided Jack Elam with the number one showcase of his entire Hollywood career! If it wasn't for the fact that Ty is a natural to supply all the other characters with a superb listening board, and that his actions and dialogue provide them with such engrossing opportunities, he could actually be written out of the movie without doing it any damage whatsoever. Available on an excellent Fox DVD.

Rawhide is directed by Henry Hathaway and written by Dudley Nichols. It stars Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, Hugh Marlowe, Jack Elam, George Tobias, Dean Jagger and Edgar Buchanan. Music is by Sol Kaplan and Lionel Newman and cinematography by Milton Krasner. A stagecoach station employee and a stranded woman traveller and her baby niece find themselves held hostage by four escaped convicts intending to rob the next day's gold shipment. A Western remake of 1935 crime film Show Them No Mercy, Rawhide is the embodiment of a solid Western production. Beautifully photographed in black and white by Krasner, smoothly performed by a strong cast of actors and seamlessly directed by the astute Hathaway, it builds the hostage plot slowly, tightening the screws of character development a bit at a time, and it unfolds in a blaze of glory come film's end. Characterisations are always interesting, if a bit conventional to anyone who has watched a lot of Oaters. Power is of course our hero in waiting and Hayward is spunky and feisty, I wonder if they will get together romantically? The four convicts are your typical scuzzy types, with Marlowe dominating the screen as the intelligent leader saddled with cohorts he really doesn't care for, while Elam is wonderfully vile as a lecherous loose cannon. The thematics of greed, sexual hostility and jeopardy for Hayward and child keep the pot boiling nicely, so suspense is a constant, and some thought has gone into the writing as regards the convict group dynamic. Sadly Kaplan's musical score is quite often cheese laden, even ridiculously jolly and not at one with the noirish thriller conventions of the story. But regardless of irritating musical interludes, this is a very good Oater and comfortably recommended to Western fans who want more than your standard shoot em' up B pictures. 7.5/10

To me 'Rawhide' is one grossly underrated little western, just as enjoyable in it's own way as 'High Noon', 'Shane' or other classics of the period! A taut little film, wonderfully directed and filmed in the picturesque Alabama Mountains at Lone Pine, California. A top notch cast headed by screen legend Tyrone Power, proving once again what a fine actor he was, and never looking more devastatingly handsome, than in this film! Susan Hayward gives a spirited performance as the former river boat entertainer, and manages to look pretty as a picture at all times! Hugh Marlowe, normally quite a wooden actor, is surprisingly effective as the leader of the outlaw gang! Star turns by veteran character actors Edgar Buchanan, Dean Jagger and George Tobias, with a powerhouse debut by Jack Elam at his evil best, round out a perfect cast! If your a western fan, or, just like a good suspenseful drama, do yourself a favor, and don't miss this film! Now on DVD, and looking good!