Robert J. Maxwell In this rather routine-plotted Western, the men keep referring to Audie Murphy as "the boy" or "the kid." It seemed to fit. He was almost thirty but didn't look it. He wasn't big, like John Wayne, or deep of voice. He was self effacing. His acting talents were modest. He gave one memorable performance in "The Red Badge of Courage," a flawed movie, but not flawed because of him. And all his life suffered from what we would now call PTSD. It practically wrecked him. He slept with a pistol under his pillow and had recurring dreams of being attacked by Germans while his M-1 fell apart, piece by piece, in his hands. He really earned those decorations.In "Ride Clear of Diablo," a mid-career movie, he's the good guy whose father and younger brother have been killed while trying to prevent their cattle from being rustled. He comes to town from Denver, where he's been working as a railroad dispatcher or something equally clerical. The local sheriff and lawyer, being particeps criminis themselves, send him after Whitey Kinkaid, the gunslinger in a nearby town, played by Dan Duryea, thinking that the kid will draw on Whitey and get his head shot off. Murphy outdraws Whitey, shoots the gun out of his hand, and takes him captive. It's the kind of movie where no one bothers to explain how a railroad bureaucrat has learned to shoot so well.It gets kind of interesting because a bond of wary friendship develops between Duryea, who happens to be innocent of this particular crime, and Murphy. Not that they hug each other and take showers together, but Duryea shows his respect for Murphy by doing him little favors, such as not shooting him in the back when he has the chance to do it.Duryea is his usual wisecracking self, all smiles. He laughs a lot. He laughs so much that sometimes he seems like a maniac and the director should have reined him in. But, okay. He's one of those likable rogues. It's a familiar enough figure in movies. The relationship is complex enough to keep the viewer interested. Without it, you're just watching another Audie Murphy Western.Susan Cabot is the good girl. She's as innocent and well behaved as Audie Murphy. Murphy has one drink in the movie, except for a lot of water and milk and coffee. Cabot may have been mentally unbalanced and met a bad death. Abbe Lane is the naughty girl. She has hair the color of a tangerine and sings in a saloon, so we know she's bad. But, though she may have slept with her boyfriend or something, she's not evil. Both women are made up like mannequins and sport false eyelashes the size of tarpaulins.I won't give the ending away except to reveal what the experienced viewer must already know -- Murphy and Cabot live happily ever after.

bkoganbing Ride Clear of Diablo is a stand out among the B westerns that Audie Murphy did in the 1950s. Murphy is Clay O'Mara who's looking for cattle rustlers that murdered his father and brother while he was away from the family ranch.Murphy gets hired by Sheriff Paul Birch as a Deputy and also takes a liking to Birch's niece Susan Cabot. She's got a fella though in lawyer William Pullen. The joker in the deck in this film is Dan Duryea. Duryea was a fine actor who played many a psychotic villain in films. A typical and unforgettable part for him would be Waco Johnny Dean in Winchester 73. That's quintessential Dan Duryea. A year earlier in 1953 in Thunder Bay, Anthony Mann who directed Winchester 73, fooled his audience by not having Duryea betray Jimmy Stewart.Something similar happens here. Audie Murphy is sent out to bring in Duryea, but the two develop a relationship of sorts. He's still Dan Duryea, hyena laugh and all, but you're not quite sure what he's gonna do in the end. And I'm not gonna say what either, but it's the key to the film.Audie Murphy did some fine B westerns in the 1950s. Unfortunately the B western was finding a new home in television. But Murphy's work is appreciated among western fans today though.

bsmith5552 "Ride Clear of Diablo" was another of the Audie Murphy series of "B-Plus" westerns released by Universal during the 50s and early 60s. Universal always populated the casts with their contract players and other familiar faces. They were well mounted little films usually running about 80 minutes and mostly shot in color. The story in this film involves Clay O'Meara (Murphy) returning to town following the murder of his father and brother by unscrupulous lawyer Tom Meredith (William Pullen), crooked Sheriff Fred Kenyon (Paul Birch) and henchman Jed Ringer (Russell Johnson). To throw him off the trail, the unholy three blame the crime on known bad man Whitey Kincaid (Dan Duryea) and send O'Meara off to Diablo to bring him in knowing full well that he'll probably be killed by the gunman. Kincaid meanwhile takes a liking to O'Meara and against his better judgment, lends O'Meara a hand. The sheriff's niece is engaged to Meredith but of course, falls in love with O'Meara. Ringer meantime, is planning a double-cross of the other two and then running off with saloon girl Kate (Abbe Lane). Murphy essentially played the same one dimensional character in his series but was always aided by superior supporting casts. Duryea, playing his signature likeable villain role, is allowed to go way over the top by director Jesse Hibbs in this one (it's about that laugh). He was always better on the wrong side of the law and was always an asset to any movie that he appeared in. The beautiful Susan Cabot plays the standard helpless heroine role and Abbe Lane gets to sing a couple of forgettable songs. Also in the cast are veteran western performers Jack Elam, Denver Pyle, Lane Bradford and Holly Bane. Here's a little trivia with which to end my comments: - Audie Murphy was the most decorated American soldier in WWII; - Susan Cabot died tragically at the hands of her son, actor Christopher Jones, in 1986; - Dan Duryea wound up on the TV soap "Peyton Place" just prior to his death in 1968; - Russell Johnson became famous as "The Professor" in TV's "Gilligan's Island"; - Abbe Lane was married to band leader Xavier Cugat at the time of this film.

helpless_dancer Murf plays a man intent on revenging the murder of his kin. To give the appearance of helping him he is deputized by a renegade sheriff and sent off on a mission sure to cause his death at the hands of psychotic killer Whitey Kincaid. When things don't go as the lawman planned he and his henchmen must try other measures to get the pesky little rascal off their scent or be found out as the very ones Murf is seeking. Average western with Duryea giving quite a performance as the always jolly, backshooting scumbag Kincaid.