Ride in the Whirlwind
Ride in the Whirlwind is a 1966 American Western film edited and directed by Monte Hellman and starring Cameron Mitchell, Millie Perkins, Jack Nicholson, and Harry Dean Stanton. Nicholson also wrote and co-produced the film with Hellman. A trio of cowboys are forced to become outlaws due to a case of mistaken identity by the local authorities.
The film was shot in 1965 in the Utah desert, back-to-back with Hellman's similar The Shooting, which also starred Nicholson and Perkins.
Plot
A gang of outlaws led by Blind Dick stop a stagecoach, kill the guard and rob the occupants. Another trio of cowboys, Vern, Wes and Otis, unknowingly come upon the gang's remote hideout and stop to rest for the night. Neither group of men trusts the other.In the morning, they all find themselves surrounded by a vigilante hanging party, and a shootout ensues. The outlaws are burned out of their shed and Blind Dick and Indian Joe are hanged by the vigilante posse. Otis is shot as Vern and Wes flee, becoming fugitives in a case of mistaken identity and guilt by association.
Vern and Wes take refuge at a farm belonging to Evan, who lives with his wife and daughter. Although innocent and not villains, the two hold the family hostage until they can make an escape. After a member of the vigilantes passes by and questions Evan, the two try to escape taking Evan's horses. Evan shoots and wounds Vern, and Wes shoots and kills Evan.
Wes and Vern ride off together on one horse with the posse in pursuit. Eventually Vern can go no further and falls off the horse, saying "I've bought it." Dying, he tells Wes to ride off alone, that the horse cannot carry both of them.
As he dies, Vern holds off the posse and Wes rides off.
Cast
Production
Hellman said that Roger Corman had agreed to put up funds for a Hellman-directed western at a lunch meeting at the old Brown Derby on Vine Street, just south of Hollywood Boulevard, one of a small chain of famous restaurants in Los Angeles. By the end of the lunch, Corman had allowed that since Hellman was making one western, he might as well make two – presumably because, in the mind of the budget-conscious Corman, this would allow them to make two films for less than the usual cost.The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind were made back-to-back, with The Shooting in production first. Hellman said that the crew and some cast members stayed on location, and, after taking a week's break, they began filming Ride in the Whirlwind. However, other than travel costs, shooting the two films back-to-back did not result in appreciable savings. Hellman stated that both films were made for under US$75,000 each. Hellman and Jack Nicholson, who produced, wrote, and acted in Ride in the Whirlwind, and had a smaller role in The Shooting, had agreed that if they went over budget on either film, they would pay the overage out of their own pockets. Thus they were very careful to keep within the budget for each.
The films were shot in Eastman Color in Utah, in an area that has since been filled in with an artificial lake. Parts of the film were shot in Kanab Canyon, Calvin Johnson Ranch, Paria, and Glen Canyon in Utah. Hellman said that producers would sometimes hire him to find out where he had shot the films, then fire him once they knew. He stated that he was the last to film there because it was filled with water soon after. Both Ride in the Whirlwind and The Shooting feature the same reddish low mountains with white lines in the rock.
Hellman said that he tended to cut out as much dialogue as he could. He preferred to tell the story visually. He avoided the obvious in terms of dialogue. Hellman stated that he oversaw the daily progress by the writers of the two films – and that they rented an office in the Writer's Building in Beverly Hills on little Santa Monica Blvd. One personal thrill for Hellman was that their rented office was next door to Fred Astaire's.