Ride, Vaquero!

Two outlaws , Rio (Robert Taylor) and Esqueda (Anthony Quinn) , raised together as step-brothers , are reluctant adversaries in this fiery Western . Esqueda's mother raised Rio as her own , but this mutual fraternity will be modified in arriving a strange couple whose vision from law and justice differs quite from them . As the brothers will have a showdown when Rio defends an untameable owner (Howard Keel) and his wife (Ava Gradner) . Each owed the other their circumstances but is now the moment of reckoning . Then , there happens a real battle of wits among two siblings .

The movie gets Western action , shootouts , a love story , thrills , an impressive town raid and results to be quite entertaining . It's an enough budget film with good actors , technicians , production values and pleasing results . This is a trigger-taut drama of the strangest brotherhood and facing off between the West's most upright man and his deadliest half-brother . Their brotherhood and friendship to break up when both of whom confront over the issue of whether to evict new settlers from their territory . The picture is a tale of justice , redemption and about a particular relationship between two brothers and a brave as well as pacific marriage . The basic plot is typical classic Western fare , but what makes this movie stand out is its style . The movie displays crossfire , love and hatred , fighting , round-up and exciting duels . It is plenty of violence and contains effective action sequences such as the ending when the cutthroats get together themselves and going through spectacular landscapes and go on riding until the trilling attack on the small town raid . The rousing climax as Taylor fights to make justice at the saloon , is justly exciting . Anthony Quinn is good as brutal bandit , he is excellent though sometimes overacting , his character bears remarkable resemblance to subsequent Spaghetti villains , as killing relentlessly enemies in cold blood . Robert Taylor gives a sober and sad acting as the good brother . And Ava Gardner is gorgeous , and wonderful , as usual . Support cast is frankly nice , such as : Kurt Kasznar , Ted de Corsia , Frank McGrath, Rex Lease , Monte Blue and the regular Jack Elam .

Blazingly shot in Angiocolor by prestigious director of photography Robert Surtees . Moving and appropriate musical score by Bronislau Kaper . The motion picture was professionally directed by John Farrow in steamroller style . Here filmmaker John Farrow delivers a decently-paced film , though it has a few flaws and gaps . Farrow was a good craftsman who directed all kinds of genres , such as Drama : ¨Unholy wife¨ ; Historical : ¨John Paul Jones¨ ; Adventures : ¨Wake island¨ , ¨The years before the mast¨ , ¨Botany Bay¨ , ¨Back from eternity¨ ; Wartime : ¨Commandos strike at dawn¨ , ¨Sea Chase¨; Crime drama : ¨The big clock¨, ¨His kind of woman¨ , ¨The Saint strikes back : Criminal court¨ ; and Western : ¨A bullet is waiting¨, ¨Hondo¨, ¨Copper Canyon ¨and this ¨Ride vaquero¨ also titled ¨Una Vida Por Otra¨ or ¨Viva vaqueros¨ . Rating 6.5/10 .

Before I saw this movie, I had not heard of the director John Farrow. After some research I found that he was the father of Mia Farrow. I also found that he had good writing skills. This is apparent after you view this film closely. The lead characters are Rio (Robert Taylor) and Esqueda (Anthony Quinn) who turn out to be each others alter ego--one man slaps a woman who kisses him and the other kisses a woman before she slaps him.

It's an unusual western because there is no hero--only a handsome troubled anti-hero. It is an unusual western in that Mexicans are not always painted as bad or stupid--it presents them as human beings. Even the 'bad' Esqueda has reverence for God's blessings. This probably is a result of Farrow's Catholicism as it is in the case when the priest gives the final blessings to the dead anti-hero (whose body is not shown, for some strange reason). An unusual way to end a film.

Evidently Farrow espoused family values--the couple's marriage is strengthened and Rio says his adopted mother would not have approved of her son Esqueda's actions. The family bonds between Rio and Esqueda are the cornerstones of the script, with doses of Catholicism and social comments thrown in. Something tells me the film we see today is not what the director intended to show--perhaps the studios had their say. The loose editing makes one wonder what was going on.

As far as performances, I think this is one of Quinn's finest unsung performances. Taylor is handsome and plays the dark anti-hero well--predictably dressed in dark colors. Ava Gardner's role is supposed to be heroic--dressed in white--but is it so simplistic to dismiss it as such. Is it a coincidence that she behaves differently when she wears pink?

It is a strange and a fascinating trio--Taylor, Quinn and Gardner. Farrow had, in my view, a great chance to make a memorable film but somehow fumbled.

Even though it's not great, Quinn's performance is memorable and he really looks - and plays - the part.

I'm also intrigued by a couple of brief scenes in this film - a wide shot of a cavalry fort and the shot of mounted troopers riding out look awfully like they came from "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon". Did John Ford help the producers fill a couple of small gaps?

Howard Keel looked much more at home in "Pagan Love Song".

Robert Taylor looks like he wore his "Billy the Kid" duds again.

It's difficult to find a good, crisp copy of the film, but worth the effort.

King Cameron (Howard Keel) takes his wife Cordelia Cameron (Ava Gardner) to their ranch home in Texas. They find it burned down and their cattle slaughtered. It is apparently Mexican bandit José Esqueda (Anthony Quinn) who hates Americans. He and his gang show up in town. He needs his tooth pulled by the local dentist. He grew up with his right-hand man Rio (Robert Taylor).

Anthony Quinn outshines everybody. I really wish that he has another guy to play with, but the other guys are not up to his level. Robert Taylor has a few moments, but he can't match Quinn. Well, this has Ava Gardner and that's something.

I've always felt that Ride Vaquero was one of the weakest of Robert Taylor's westerns. In playing Rio, Taylor certainly essayed one of the darkest characters he ever brought to the screen.

It's the end of the Civil War and bandit Anthony Quinn has certainly had his run of things in the area. But the Yankee army will be occupying Texas shortly. Common sense would dictate that Quinn realize the jig is up that he'd better move on. At least his foster brother Taylor thinks so, but Quinn is drunk with power and he ain't going nowhere.

Taylor finds some reason to stay when he takes one look at Ava Gardner newly arrived in Brownsville, but with husband Howard Keel. They're settling on a cattle ranch and Keel has some big plans.

Most of the story I got, but quite frankly two points of it were ridiculous. Why Keel would even consider hiring Taylor after Taylor tried to burn him out. And secondly why Ava had Taylor take her to Quinn's camp to convince him to leave her and Keel alone. Those two things make absolutely no sense at all.

Quinn is repeating the blustering role he had in Viva Zapata. But that film had a lot more depth to it. I think Quinn realized that and blustered all the more.

Other reviewers commented on the undertone of a repressed gay crush that Quinn had for Taylor. It certainly might explain Quinn's motivations. But Anthony Quinn dealt with that issue six years later in Warlock, a much better western.

It's a bad script with character motivations that make no sense. Still a good cast does the best they can by it.