Rawhide (1951) User Reviews

Jack Elam at His Creepiest

[mgtbltp · 8/10 · 26 August 2008]

Watched this again on the new DVD released & all I can say is WOW, I was impressed. This film has vaulted into my top 20 Westerns.

First of all from beginning to end its hitting on all cylinders. This is a Stage Station film in the tradition of "The Tall T" & "Comanche Station" of the later Bud Boetticher/Randolf Scott Ranown series, all of the action takes place in the stage station and its immediate surroundings.

The opening sequences of a stagecoach crossing the rugged barren wilderness including shots of it passing through snowbound passes are just spectacular. The Black & White cinematography is gorgeous, and add to that the historically accurate use of a team of mules pulling it makes this film one of the best portrayals of stage travel I've seen. Even the stagecoach itself is adorned with a "headlight" type lantern for night travel.

This is one of those films where you learn some bits of Western lore, its a good example of what was prevalent in that "golden age" of the Western 1950 -1971 when the audience through both films like this and the abondanza of Westerns on TV were inundated with things western where you were in the aggregate going to a sort of "Western University". Its a knowledge that is getting lost now and a good example is the illogical stupidity and implausible scenarios in the recent remake of 3:10 to Yuma.

But I've been digressing. Lets get back to Rawhide.

Care is also taken to show how the arriving team of mules is changed out for a fresh team. For those who are not familiar with western staglines most stage stops "stations" were located between 15 to 20 miles apart so that fresh teams could replace the arriving team. Each tandem of driver & shotgun made a run of about 100 miles a day, so they would go through between 5-7 stage stops in a shift. At some stage stations they had lunch or dinner for the passengers, All the aspect of working a stage station was depicted spot on. The set is perfect.

Dir Henry Hathaway does an impressive job in this film, his shots and compositions are beautiful & all the actors are convincing. This film boasts Edgar Buchanan's finest performance as Stationmaster Sam Todd, and Jack Elam is his creepiest as Treviss, Tyrone Power is Tom Owens, Susan Hayward as Vinne Holt a tough ex-saloon singer turned protector/surrogate mother of her dead sisters daughter, Hugh Marlow as the gang leader, George Tobias as Gratz, and a great performance by Dean Jagger as the slow on the uptake "one horse horse thief" Yancy. Its got a very well integrated low key un-intrusive to the story "love interest" between Power & Hataway a good example of they way it should be handled in all Westerns.

This film should be in anybodies Western Collection, 8/10 or better.

Noir Western

[jpdoherty · 8/10 · 23 May 2009]

Fox's RAWHIDE (1951) is quite a wonderful film! Elusive and available for years only on a VHS tape the powers that be at Fox, in their wisdom - bless their little hearts, have seen fit at last to put it out on DVD in a small box set with two other western classics - "The Gunfighter" (1950) and "Garden Of Evil" (1954).

Tyrone Power - making one of his rare forays into a western - stars with the beautiful Susan Hayward in "Rawhide" which is essentially a film noir in a western setting. The story set in a remote and isolated Stagecoach relay station has its occupants (Power and Hayward) being held hostage by a gang of outlaws intent on robbing the gold bullion when it arrives on the morning stage. The movie recounts the efforts of the captives to escape their captors and thwart their plans.

From a splendidly written screenplay by Dudley Nichols the film has a palpable dramatic thrust to it which it maintains throughout. Sharply photographed in glorious black & white by Milton Krasner this is edge of the seat stuff thanks to Henry Hathaway's seamless direction, the atmospheric music by Sol Kaplin and of course the excellent performances of the individual cast members. Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward are terrific in the leads and make a perfect match. Their scenes together are altogether appealing and engaging. Four years later they would be cast together again in the Fox colourful epic set in South Africa "Untamed". Outstanding also is Hugh Marlowe as Zimmerman the "educated" leader of the gang, the wonderful gravelly voiced Edgar Buccanan as Sam the ill-fated station boss, Dean Jagger as Yancy the quite harmless gang member laughingly referred to as "the one horse, horse thief", and making his debut Jack Elam (replacing Everett Sloane) as the unscrupulous, violent and womanizing gunman Tevis ( his wickedness being well displayed in a startling jaw-dropping scene towards the end when he snarlingly takes pot-shots at a baby toddler).

Listen out too for Gary Merill (uncredited) doing the narration over the opening and closing scenes ("Yes sir, they call it the Jackass Mail"). The following year Fox took the picture's basic premise and turned it into a movie called "Outcasts Of Poker Flat" starring Dale Robertson and Ann Baxter but it had little success. Pity Fox didn't include it here to allow for comparison. However as it stands it is an excellent thriller of a western! Bullseye Fox!

Classic line from "Rawhide"............. Ty Power asking Hayward why she is locking the door of her room and is it because she's afraid of coyotes? Hayward wryly replies - "Yeah, the kind with boots on".

Solid Western with a Good Cast

[gpeevers · 7/10 · 10 April 2019]

Although in many ways a typical western it represents the genre very well.

Nice explanation/setup at he beginning of the film with a description of the overland mail. An interesting set of characters and a cast that is really solid across the board. Confined largely to one location it makes great use of the environment and the one set - for which the layout/geography is quite clear.

There are a number of twists and surprises which is nice. The Director Henry Hathaway uses some actual night shots instead of shooting day for night, which often doesn't work. Nice use of sound for the night scenes as well with noise of mules and coyotes providing both atmosphere and a plot point.

Very close to being a great western in my opinion, but it didn't quite grab me emotionally.

Hostages Of A Volatile Bunch Of Outlaws

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 11 March 2008]

In the film Rawhide things start out like any other day for Tyrone Power who plays the son of the stage line owner spending some time at one of the way stations learning the business from grizzled old timer Edgar Buchanan. A stage stops by and Susan Hayward and toddler are among the passengers.

But when a passing cavalry patrol brings news of a crashout by four very desperate criminals, one of whom was scheduled to be hung the next day, the driver decides he's not taking Sue and the little girl if there's going to be trouble. Even with a cavalry escort which you would think would have been enough to discourage any outlaws from robbing the stage. Sue stays at the station until word of capture or a stage going in another direction arrives.

The four outlaws do arrive and they are four really lousy specimens of humanity. Led by Hugh Marlowe the candidate for the rope, the others include Jack Elam, George Tobias, and Dean Jagger. They kill Buchanan and stay at the station hoping to holdup a stage carrying a gold shipment.

Marlowe is light years away from the nice guy playwright in All About Eve. You can hardly believe this is the same actor. But the guy making his first real mark in the cinema is Jack Elam. One of the most psychotic villains ever put on screen, Elam makes full use of his blind eye for some incredible facial expressions. His unconcealed lust for Hayward is driving Marlowe to his wits end who needs Power alive at least until the robbery is done.

Tyrone Power was 37 when he made Rawhide, a bit too old for the part he was playing, still he does a good job. This is a remake of an earlier 20th Century Fox film Show Them No Mercy which had a modern setting and the Power and Hayward roles were played by Rochelle Hudson and Edward Norris who were barely in their twenties.

But it's the outlaws here who really make this film. As Marlowe is quick to comment this isn't a crew he'd pick, they just happened to be around when he made his break and they went along for the ride. Tobias and Jagger play a pair of amiable duds, Marlowe is bitter and angry, but Elam is psychotic.

Henry Hathaway got good performances in this suspense filled western. Of the outlaws the idiot Jagger in the end has the most sense. See the film to know what I'm talking about.

Desperate, raw emotions added to remote, isolated setting

[lora64 · 10/10 · 23 July 2001]

Yes, I think "Rawhide" is a highly charged western and if I were any younger I'd be working through two boxes of popcorn while lost in this movie! It keeps you on the edge of your seat as you watch several outlaws take over the depot, all set for a robbery, and lie in wait for the coach to arrive. Also the fact is, when you combine two intense stars like Ty and Susan you're bound to get a compelling screen presence since both are always fascinating to watch. They carry the drama steadily along.

Later on in the film however, there seems a shortage of dialogue and the story tends to get bogged down in a constant gloomy atmosphere of quiet desperation.

One certainly feels the weight of isolation in this remote station along the stagecoach line in a time where lawlessness still needed to be subdued. It makes one realize how rough it must have been to live in those days of homesteading in the West.

As usual, Elam is the baddy in here and he never fails to rouse my dislike although in later life he went in for comedy in a western or two, a nice change. Hugh Marlowe is also a familiar face -- of "All About Eve" fame. On the whole it's a riveting western to the end.

Elam Showcase in a Good Western

[dougdoepke · 11 November 2013]

Considering the two big stars, Power and Hayward, along with big-budget TCF producing, I was expecting a large-scale western. But it's not. Instead, the action is limited to a stagecoach way station out in the middle of nowhere. But what the movie lacks in scale, it makes up for with close-in dramatic tension. Tom (Power) better figure out a way to foil the gang of cutthroats before the gold-bearing stage comes through or he and Vinnie (Hayward) and probably her little girl are toast.

Gang leader Zimmerman (Marlowe) seems like a reasonable enough bad guy who just wants the gold and then skedaddle. The trouble is he's got wild man Tech (Elam) to contend with, and Tech wants Vinnie, no matter the problems this creates for her protector Tom or for the gang.

To say that Elam steals the show would be an understatement. He's one scary bad guy, leering and mugging it up like ten-miles of really bad road. No one has looked like him before or since. In fact, he so overshadows gang leader Marlowe that the final showdown is between him and Power instead of Power and Marlowe. But then Marlowe never was much of a screen presence. Anyway, despite the big names, the movie remains an Elam showcase since the rest of the cast pretty much low-keys it. I'm just wondering how director Hathaway got little toddler Callie (Dunn) to respond to cues since she can barely walk. Still, she's got a tense, demanding little role, and if Oscars were given to toddlers, she would deserve a Lifetime Award.

All in all, the western is both different and underrated, I expect, because it lacks sweeping action. Nonetheless, the lack of sweep is more than made up for in dramatic tension. Besides, the film includes one overriding curiosity—it features what may be Hollywood's handsomest man against what may be its ugliest. Now there's a real face-off.

Two pros in a lively western

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 21 February 2006]

Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward star in "Rawhide," a 1951 western about convicts who take over a stagecoach station and plan to rob a morning stage carrying gold. The film sports an excellent cast, including Edgar Buchanan, Hugh Marlowe, Dean Jagger, and Jack Elam.

Hayword and her niece are held over at the station because of possible danger ahead. When she and the child go into the canyon to bathe, she takes Power's gun. When the robbers come on the scene, she hides behind the cattle troth, but the baby cries and reveals her position. She drops the gun there. Back at the station, the criminals assume that Power is her husband. The two now have to figure out how to get out of their situation with no gun.

This is a very suspenseful, sometimes violent, sometimes scary movie with Marlowe in the unusual role of being an educated, cold-blooded killer trying to manage his motley crew. Elam is menacing as a foolish, oversexed villain, with Dean Jagger and George Travis being appropriately moronic. Edgar Buchanan has a small role, appearing only in the beginning of the film.

Susan Hayward is beautiful and a real firecracker in her role. She and Power worked well together, appearing also in "Untamed" later on. Power is 10 years too old for his part - he's supposed to be a young man learning the business. "When the green wears off and you get a little older..." Hugh Marlowe says to him - Power was 37 and, by old west standards, not young. The script was not changed to accommodate him. At this point in his career, he was anxious to fulfill his obligations to Fox and probably didn't make a fuss about it. He does an excellent job in the role of a man in a difficult situation nevertheless and looks very handsome. The character is a bit of bumbler at first, and Power carries this off in an amusing manner.

Surprisingly good, and I think non-western fans like myself will enjoy it, and the final scene will keep you on the edge of your seat.

A taut, suspenseful western thriller

[mdlee · 8/10 · 28 October 2004]

I was a teenager when I first saw this movie at the Carmel Theater in Hollywood. Tyrone Power was a WW II hero, and was a personal favorite from the 1940 western "The Mark of Zorro."

Hugh Marlowe had a nice, sympathetic role the year before in "All About Eve." So consider this teenager's surprise when he learns that Hugh is the bad guy.

Tyrone and Susan Hayward have appeared in several film together and here make a very good team once again. The rousing opening music theme was used before in the film "Brigham Young." Both films were directed by Henry Hathaway who might have said, "Let's use that music from Brigham Young." The strange thing is that there are different music credits for each film, so someone is not getting his just rewards and someone is getting credit undeservedly.

A previous review of this movie stated that this film was so predictable. Well, in the 50's all the heroes survived in motion pictures. The fun is here you don't know how the hero will survive (without a gun) and how he will save the others.

There is real suspense here and fear for the safety of the baby. This film is an excellent effort by both cast and crew and truly deserves a viewing.

Desperate Siege.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 4 February 2014]

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

RAWHIDE is Neat Little Western

[banse · 8/10 · 14 March 2001]

Director Henry Hathaway helms this taut western drama about outlaws holding a group of people captive at a stagecoach station. Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward ignite good chemistry together right through to the climatic shoot-out. There's good support from Jack Elam (wonderfully evil), Dean Jagger, Hugh Marlowe, Jeff Corey and Edgar Buchanan. Seldom shown on TV this 1951 flick is available on video and is a treat for the western buff as well as for fans of the two dynamic stars.

Good suspense!

[FightingWesterner · 7/10 · 8 August 2009]

Rawhide is a moderately suspenseful hostage drama with polished direction, great location filming, and a fine cast.

Tyrone Power is a likable if somewhat bland hero.

On the other hand, Susan Hayward's character was kind of annoying in the beginning but softens a bit as the film progresses. I wish the writers would have made her a strong independent woman without making the character look like a brat.

Hugh Marlowe is an excellent actor but I didn't find him a very convincing villain, even an an outlaw banker! Then again, it's probably my own fault in that I can't look at him without thinking of him as the hero in Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers. One scene where he delivered was when he was pretending to be a lawman, talking to the newspaper reporter and he had to fight back his anger at the men who were gossiping about his treacherous personal life.

A young and lanky Jack Elam steals the show as a dangerous (and lecherous) member of Marlowe's gang. He's great in this!

Overall, this is a decent studio western with an entertaining twist filled climax.

Also, I'd advise viewers who haven't watched this to please skip the trailer as it gives away the ending of the picture!

A Tribute to the Alabama Hills

[silasmrner · 10/10 · 5 September 2019]

A great many westerns have used the Alabama Hills as backdrop, but this is not only one of the finest made there but one where the Hills share the spotlight. The mail way-station was built tucked away amongst the rocks and is the single set for all the story's action. That combined with a suspenseful story, excellent cast, and fine production values make it an underrated classic of the genre. Interestingly, the same could be said for Yellow Sky; albeit, it needed a number of locations with the much of the principle story also set in the Alabama Hills.

GOOD TIGHT WESTERN LIKE I LIKE THEM...!

[masonfisk · 7/10 · 14 August 2018]

A 1951 Western from Henry Hathaway starring Tyrone Power & Susan Hayward whereby a group of men hold hostage an employee & passengers at a stagecoach depot awaiting to rob an impending gold shipment. Shot in black & white & scripted by the always reliable Dudley Nichols (he wrote a few pictures for John Ford) this ultimately original take on a Western is by turns gripping & gasp inducing w/a satisfying ending on the horizon.

A near total misfire of a western

[donofthedial · 3/10 · 8 November 2008]

Ever wonder why some films have faded from view and are little spoken of? RAWHIDE is a great example and contains many reasons for its general obscurity.

Things go wrong the moment Susan Hayward arrives on the scene. This woman cannot act and her character is completely overbearing and obnoxious.

This is simply a badly written story made worse by bizarre performances by Hugh Marlowe, Dean Jagger, George Tobias and the thoroughly freakish Jack Elam who is either the highlight or the low-light of the film.

Jack Elam gives all to his role with his eyes bugging out, licking his lips and his teeth, sticking out his tongue and his jaw and positioning his head in every freakish position that he can. And he gets close-ups! All he needed was to have his head spin around a la Linda Blair in THE EXORCIST.

Hugh Marlowe is awful and doesn't seem to realize he is in a movie.

Dean Jagger mutters much of the time as the semi-simpleton of Marlowe's band of gold robbers.

George Tobias plays an ethnic in the manner of El Brendel, yet looking like Alfonso Bedoya in THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE.

Tyrone Power does the best of all with a cookie-cutter character.

On the other hand, the location shooting in Lone Pine is very attractive and the digital restoration made the image quality look near to real life, but in black and white.

I can't envision myself ever watching this grueling film again.

Predictable, perhaps, but not exactly conventional

[vanderbilt651 · 19 February 2003]

This film, sometimes predictable, is nonetheless quite watchable. And then, of course, if you start to think about what's happening on screen and the metaphorical possibilities thereof, you may feel like you've discovered a hidden gem.

Susan Hayward aficionados (I won't exactly say fans) will never be bored, as Miss Hayward gives it her typical spitfire all from the get-go, her performance liberally punctuated with her signature eye-squints, chin-jerks and tit-thrusts.

Compared to Hayward, in fact (and this hardly seems accidental), Tyrone Power's character is seen as quite emasculated. From the beginning of the film he has "lost" his gun, and it is Hayward, not he, who takes out the last bad guy. One scene has him preparing bacon, beans and coffee for the bandits that have wrought such murder and mayhem on the stage coach depot he reluctantly manages.

Visually, the film is quite striking, with an impressive mise-en-scène that alternates between wide shots expressing the vastness and solitude of the West and extreme--and unusually-constructed--close-ups that explore characters both good and evil and as well make us a part of the growing intimacy between Hayward and Power.

Finally, fans of gunplay will thrill to the extremity of the scene where one particularly incorrigible gunman makes his last stand by taking pot-shots at Hayward's toddler ward, Callie.

Adult, well-paced and suspenseful Western about some bandits hijack a stagecoach way station

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 8 October 2020]

Rawhide is the name of the trail station at which takes place the action of this stunning and exciting movie. Four escaped convicts kidnap a stagecoach way station run by Tyrone Power and Edgar Buchanan and hold hostages to the passangers, Susan Hayward, while waiting for a shipment of gold. All of them are trapped and mistreated by the heinous outlaws.

Nice and A-grade western with splendid interpretations, thrills, drama and a breathtaking bang-up ending. The plot is plain, simple and claustrphobic, but the development is complex, including a couple of thrilling gunfights . It results to be a remake of "Show them no mercy" (1938). Main and support cast are frankly excellent with an abundance of great talent. Starring Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward are pretty well. Supported by very good secondaries such as Hugh Marlowe, Edgar Buchanan, George Tobias, Dean Jagger, Jeff Corey. Here Jack Elam steals the show at a first sizeable character as one of the evil cutthroats.

It packs an atmospheric and adequate cinematography in black and white by Milton Krasner. As well as moving and appropriate musical score by Sol Kaplan. Being competently produced by Sol Siegel and compellingly directed by Henry Hathaway. This great director was a good Hollywood professional and he here sustains interest enough by maintaining the claustrophobic tension very well and he stages some nice action scenes. He directed a lot of fiery Westerns, many of them starred by John Wayne as North to Alaska, The sons of Katie Elder, and Wayne's Oscar Winning : True grit. Furthermore : From hell to Texas, How the West was won, Nevada Smith, Five card stud, Shoot out, among others.

Watch that toddler and Jack Elam

[LukeCoolHand · 8/10 · 20 February 2022]

You would think that any old movie with Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, a very young, skinny Jack Elam, and a very cute toddler baby girl couldn't be all bad. Well you're right. It is a very entertaining movie and Jack Elam and that cute toddler steal every scene they're in. Never seen this movie until today but glad I caught and glad it's not about cattle driving like the TV series was. Probably where the TV series got the title from though.

Tyrone Power Leads A Top Notch Crew in Western Noir

[DKosty123 · 7/10 · 13 October 2019]

This film has such a good cast, it does not lose a step after killing Edgar Bucannan (Uncle Joe -Petticoat Junction) early on. The plot is about the express stage coast service from the west coast to the St. Louis in the 1800's and how it revolutionized the country at that point. It's focus is on station RAWHIDE which is located almost at the mid-point. A stage runs through here every day.

Besides a great cast, the director of this film is one of the better ones who did several top films in his career. The writer of the script is a very good writer who also wrote "Stage Caoch" for John Ford. So with top writing, great direction, and a stellar cast, this Western is very well done on all levels.

The only surprise with this one is how much of a sleeper it was at the box office. It really seems like this one got over looked. A noir western with raw emotions throughout and a well developed script, they don't get better than this. Only funny thing of note is the fact that Haywards white blouse neer gets dirty no matter how much dirt there is around her. Still, this is a small detail that proves the stars clothes are always clean in Hollywood.

Western meets thriller and the result is superb

[lorenellroy · 9/10 · 29 August 2007]

Rawhide was also released as "Desperate Siege" and that title seems to me to be a better summation of the plot than its more familiar original. Masterfully shot in crisp monochrome the movie has overtones of hostage themed movies such as Split Second,The Petrified Forest and The Desperate Hours ,and owes at least as much to the thriller genre as it does to the Western

Power is cast as the son of a stageline owner ,learning the business from the ground upwards at an isolated depot in the desert somewhere on the San Francisco to St Louis run .He is not enjoying the experience and has not fully adapted to life on the frontier and still clings to such niceties as shaving and taking regular baths ,much to the disgust of his boss the depot manager -played in customary style by the ever dependable Edgar Buchanan .One day a stage bearing among others a feisty young woman -winningly played by the charismatic Susan Hayward,-with a toddler in tow.when reports of outlaws on the loose is received at the depot she is not allowed to continue her journey as company regulations forbid the transportation of children in such circumstances Soon after a man purporting to be a lawman arrives and quickly reveals himself to be the head of an outlaw band which is intent on waiting at the depot for the arrival of the next stage which is transporting gold billion .He is played by Hugh Marlowe who shows a greater level of acting skill than was called upon in the low budget science fiction movies he is most associated with .Also in the gang is a giggling ,sexually obsessed psychopath (a chilling and emaciated Jack _Elam) and the more marginal figures played by George Tobias and Jeff Corey. Tensions build as Buchanan is killed while Hayward and Power are held captive and seek to escape while tensions develop between Elam and Marlowe as they battle for leadership of the gang The role reversal in the movie is quite striking -Hayward rather than Power taking the more assertive role in standing up to the outlaws ,and the differing natures of the outlaws is also well brought out ,Marlowe being a cultured and well educated man of good family gone off the rails owing to a woman This is intelligent ,well scripted and having more than a hint of the film noir A minor classic marred only slightly by a somewhat rushed ending

Better Than Your Average 50'S Western

[dwinfr1 · 7/10 · 20 February 2022]

If Susan Heyward isn't enough to bring ya to the screen then you will still get plenty of action. Jack Elam has a peripheral part as one of the outlaws and in my humble opinion he steals, pardon the pun, the show. I have alwayd thought Power was a bit too much of an over-actor, even for the 50's, but he does a good job here, and Heyward makes all look good. She was much more than a pretty face, and her acting skills were as good as anyone in Tinseltown at the time. I love this movie for its gritty realism, it's sense of humor and danger, and for having a bit of a noir feel to it. I just can't give it more than 7 because, to me anyway, as in 9 out of 10 films from this period, the writing was just not buyable. Fortunately, in Rawhide, the acting is mostly top rate..

A Minor Classic

[girvsjoint · 10/10 · 19 October 2012]

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!

A very familiar theme, but still quite watchable

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 24 July 2009]

The film starts with a woman with a baby being told they cannot continue her journey by wagon from San Francisco to St. Louis. This is because a dangerous bandit is loose and the express company has a rule about putting children in dangerous situations. They are to stay at the express station (in the middle of nowhere) until the next day at the soonest. In the meantime, she orders everyone about like dogs. This makes perfect sense to not put a baby in harm's way...but Susan Hayward's over-the-top response doesn't. She simply acts like a stuck up monster and it was quite annoying--purely a cliché in every way ("the angry and spunky lady"). At this point, the film had a big strike against it. It's not good when many in the audience are rooting for someone, anyone, to punch this b..., I mean, witch, in the mouth! Now this sort of petulant role is not uncommon for Miss Hayward (I can name quite a few films in which she did this, but the most egregious example was in THE CONQUEROR), but this is definitely among the most ridiculous and overdone.

Soon, the bandits arrive and take over the outpost--which is pretty easy because the only ones there (other than the two "guests") are Edgar Buchanan and Tyrone Power (an odd choice as a star in a Western). What happens next is all very well done, though also very, very familiar--with a plot that is reminiscent of Randolph Scott's TALL T (a superb film in every way) and Gary Cooper's MAN OF THE WEST. In fact, there are probably many more films of the genre like it--even non-Westerns such as the Bogart films, THE DESPERATE HOURS and KEY LARGO as well as Sinatra's SUDDENLY. In other words, the film is about a group of people who are being held hostage by a group of desperadoes. And, in the case of every single one of these films, you know that by the end the male lead who is one of the hostages will somehow manage to take out the entire gang AND save the innocents!

Overall, while the plot is very familiar and Miss Hayward's early scenes would even have made Mother Theresa hate her had she seen it, I still think this is basically a good film that is watchable. Some pluses were Power's amazingly restrained performance, the adorable kid and Jack Elam playing his typical menacing psychopathic role--AND you get to see him strangling Hayward! Just don't expect it to be as good as TALL T or THE DESPERATE HOURS--these have taken this theme to amazing heights, though I must admit that at least RAWHIDE was among the first of the famous films I have mentioned.

By the way, in the shoot out between Elam and Power, inexplicably both seem to fire bullet after bullet without reloading--and it appeared as if Power had no extra ammo.

Really good!

[noirlover · 8/10 · 5 May 2003]

I'm not a big fan of Susan Hayward, but her sometimes irritating brand of spunkiness really works well in this film, although I think she was at her best in Nicholas Ray's 'The Lusty Men.' Tyrone Power is also makes a surprisingly good Western hero. As noted by previous posters, he's not ultramasculine, but he keeps his head, is resourceful, and saves the day in his own way. Add crazy-eyed Jack Elam as his usually dastardly self, and tense, well-played situations and you have a nifty little western that's worth watching anytime.

The Movie "Rawhide"

[Hollycon1 · 7/10 · 16 July 2006]

As you can probably figure out, this is one of those "guess where the outlaws hide"? movies.

It is filled with excitement and gunfights and this one has a baby in it! As a fan of Western films, I enjoyed it, even if it is somewhat predictable. There are some moments when you are surprised at what the bad guys do. The film has some talented actors in it. Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward work well together. Edgar Buchanan is good in anything! Of course Jack Elam plays his part perfectly, you wish his boss would just knock him off to be rid of him!The other actors are all known names to people who enjoy old films. It's shot outside so it has the feel of a real place in the West, it's dusty and hot and that effect comes through. Enjoy!

"Oh Susanna" is the main theme?

[HotToastyRag · 3/10 · 24 July 2018]

I never knew Susan Hayward made so many terrible movies. She's one of my favorite actresses, so naturally I thought everything she touched was gold. Apparently not. Even if you love westerns or hostage movies, I can't recommend watching Rawhide.

The opening credits play a theme that's been used in another movie, and once composer Sol Kaplan realized this plagiarism, he could think of nothing more to write than endless repetitions and modulations of "Oh Susanna" during the remainder of the film. Unless that was his way of expressing his undying love for the lead actress, there's no excuse.

Suzy's taking a stagecoach from California to St. Louis, but along the way, she's forced to vacate and stay in an outpost because there's a murderous criminal on the loose. Tyrone Power is the man in charge of her well-being, but before long, Hugh Marlowe, the murderous criminal, arrives at the outpost and holds the three hostage.

In addition to the terrible music, the acting is pretty lousy. Suzy's character is extremely stupid, and her performance is almost as bad as the obviousness of her wig. Try Garden of Evil or The President's Lady instead.