Ride a Crooked Trail

Ride a Crooked Trail
Film poster by Reynold Brown
Directed by	Jesse Hibbs
Produced by	Howard Pine
Written by	George Bruce (story) Borden Chase
Starring	Audie Murphy Gia Scala Walter Matthau
Music by	Joseph Gershenson
Cinematography	Harold Lipstein
Edited by	Edward Curtiss
Production company	Universal International
Distributed by	Universal International
Release dates	September 1958 (1958-09) (United States)
Running time	87 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Ride a Crooked Trail is a 1958 American Western film shot in CinemaScope, with former World War II hero Audie Murphy and future Academy Award winning actor Walter Matthau heading a strong if not well-known cast.^[1]

Gia Scala and Henry Silva co-star in the film, directed by Jesse Hibbs.

Plot

During his escape, bank robber Joe Maybe (Audie Murphy) sees famous US Marshal Jim Noonan, who is searching for him, stumble and fall off a cliff to his death. He enters a town on the dead man's horse, where he is mistaken for Noonan. Maybe decides to hide behind the badge for a while, but soon raises the suspicions of the local law enforcer, Judge Kyle (Walter Matthau). His real identity is nearly blown when the riverboat brings to town Tessa Milott (Gia Scala), a past acquaintance of Maybe's who calls him by his surname in front of the judge. Thinking quickly, Joe says she called him "Baby," and did this because she is his wife.

She must now pretend she is his wife to avoid further scrutiny from Kyle, but this in turn causes problems with her current boyfriend, bandit leader Sam Teeler (Henry Silva). The "couple" moves into a house and are well respected in town, although their secrecy is nearly compromised by a young orphan boy who expects "the marshal and his wife" to adopt him. Tessa struggles between her loyalty to her real criminal boyfriend and her growing feelings for Maybe, but each man wants to rob the town's bank.

Cast

Audie Murphy as Joe Maybe
Gia Scala as Tessa Milotte
Walter Matthau as Judge Kyle
Henry Silva as Sam Teeler
Joanna Cook Moore as Little Brandy (as Joanna Moore)
Eddie Little as Jimmy
Mary Field as Mrs. Curtis
Leo Gordon as Sam Mason

Mort Mills as Pecos
Frank Chase as Ben
Bill Walker as Jackson
Ned Wever as Attorney Clark
Richard H. Cutting as Mr. Curtis
Bob Steele as a bearded man being questioned by Judge Kyle (uncredited)
Morgan Woodward as Durgan, Teeler thug (uncredited)

Production

The film was mostly filmed on the Universal backlot with some location shooting at the Janss Conejo Ranch in Thousand Oaks, California. During filming, Gia Scala learned her mother was dying of cancer and only had three months to live; the day after she heard the news, Scala was involved in a car accident caused by her drinking and driving.^[2]

References

↑ Ride a Crooked Trail at Audie Murphy Memorial Site
↑ Andrea Passafiume, 'Ride a Crooked Trail', Turner Classic Movies accessed 4 June 2012

External links

Ride a Crooked Trail (1958) at the Internet Movie Database
Ride a Crooked Trail at The Matthau Company
Ride a Crooked Trail at TCMDB

Films directed by Jesse Hibbs

All American (1953) Ride Clear of Diablo (1954) To Hell and Back (1955) The Spoilers (1955) World in My Corner (1956) Walk the Proud Land (1956) Joe Butterfly (1957) Ride a Crooked Trail (1958)

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