When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?

I seen this movie years ago on television and remember thinking then that it was too violent for TV. I wish I had seen the theatrical version. This lost gem of a movie stuck in my mind. Sure, like any movie it has it's tedious parts but as it progresses it just gets better & better.

The end of William Peter Blatty's "The Nith Configuration" borrows from this movie. The ending in RR is one of the most intelligent best endings I have seen in any movie ever. I noticed on other reviews nobody explains or tells of the "SURPRISE ENDING". So, I will not either. I just know it has probably one of the best endings in film next to "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry".

It's been over 20 years since I've seen this movie and it's every bit as good as I remember it. Marjoe Gortner is most convincing as a sociopath tormenting small town folks and passersby with a touching love story in the background. Great soundtrack too! When You Coming Back Red Ryder? deserves to be rereleased on DVD.

I recall thinking this movie would be uninteresting when I first saw it on HBO back in 1984, but this in not the kind of movie I could forget about a month later. No wonder so many stage recreations have been done. The many characters are so identifiable, so authentic in their behavior. I have to wonder where the writers got their material. As one who was born and spent many years in west Texas, this is like a compressed version of many years of my life. Thank God, the extreme bad guys like Teddy are rare, but they do exist. I recall a guy like him who started a serious fire at the school during the summer. It's too bad that this movie is not available anywhere or ever shown these days.

I first saw this film when I was fifteen. Again it's cover appealed to me as well as it's story. I bought the video at the end of that year and watched it again and again as if I had an addiction. I can't believe some of the really negative reviews this movies got. People have labelled it "Trash" or given it nothing. But we're all our own critic, it's our right just like democracy. We have an embittered ex Vietnam vet, played with utter brilliance by evangelist turned actor, Marjoe Gortner who really found he's calling. When you see his performance, you'll see why. We see a naked Candy Clark, washing herself down in a stream, and we see stranger Gortner, watching approvingly through a set of reflecting shades, standing from a mountain top high above. In this first forty minutes that succeeds, we see life through the lives of some quite pathetic types, in this small Texas town that almost ceases to exist, we have Gortner who's pushed his van (no help from the police) into the gas station/cafe/motel. This cafe's frontage holds a lot of history and provides a great location setting, that's memorable, where inside there's even more history, with it's black and white checkered floors and old coffee taps. From here till the end of the movie is the real meaty heart of it. Marjoe creates trouble the moment he and his girl, walk through the louver doors, his facetious manner which itself is a little frightening. What starts from here becomes a claustrophobic nightmare of intimidation, where almost the rest of film takes place in the diner. Gortner begins his own sick game of vengeance, especially towards a rich couple, (Hal Linden, and Lee Grant, superb in this) staying in the back motel of this cafe, Grant, a gifted violinist, who becomes the worst victim of humiliation here, when exposed from the waste up. The tension mounts when Linden tries to defy Gortner and gets shot in the arms for his troubles, so he's not going nowhere. Then low and behold we intercut to a church scene of singing townfolk. Why? So now we have a Key Largo sort of situation, the diners now hostages, Gortner making them do some really out there s..t as seen mostly in role playing, a really interesting angle here. Wannabe tough guy, Peter Firth who's name is of the title, is involved greatly in this, where Gortner brings out this boy's real inner and killer self as seen later, where Gortner grandly states that he really is a chicken s..t. Firth delivers an amazing performance, the second best, with a first rate American accent, you'd truly think was ligit. He's aged amazingly as compared to his role in Eqqus only a few years earlier. He so much wants to vacate this town with a dream that comes true at the end, as he becomes the hero of our torrid violent tale. The movie really builds up to an intensity, that's terrifyingly real in it's last twenty minutes, that ends with a classic showdown in these sandhills. The exterior surrounds of this movie are superbly chosen, one pre cafeteria scene with Gortner in his van, head sticking out the sun roof, as his girl blazes it along, playing to a stones track, rules. Gortner is given a lot of awesome and thought provoking dialogue, funny and shocking, the makings of sheer writing brilliance which he exorcises through a brilliant performance, one again, I stress, must be witnessed. Pat Hingle as the old crippled attendant, and Stephanie Farracy as a fat ugly duckling, the only female waitress here are two examples of pathetic types, they convince us of so well. I love the wide Texan scenic shot of Firth walking to his trailer, where he and his poor suffering mother live. She's the prey of men who just use her for you know what, including the local copper who's heart is as big as his ego. Her latest flame, has taken off with her car, so she too is going nowhere. I guess the really sad thing about this tale, is at the end of it, where Farracy and Firth go driving off into the dust covered distance, the remainder of these pathetic types just go on about their business as usual. And that's what's really sad.

This unique psychological thriller is a decent adaptation of Mark Medoff's brilliant play in which a psychopathic Viet-Nam vet holds a diverse group of individuals hostage in an isolated New Mexico diner in 1968. He then slowly exposes each of the their fears, faults, desires and ulterior motives while challenging American ideals, morals and heroism in transition.

This rarely seen film's box office was marred its long title, difficult to market subject matter and lack of well-known stars. However, each of the half dozen or so actors turn in brilliant performances as their fascades are slowly torn down by the vet (played by former child evangelist, Marjoe Gortner) whose intuition and captivating rants are exceeded only by his intimidating demeanor, and mind-blowing innuendo - the crux of which is born upon Red whose James Dean persona makes him an easy target considering the timeframe.

Comparatively speaking, this film can best be be described as a darker, grown up version of "The Breakfast Club" although much more fascinating and thought-provoking.