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• A good film that didn't take a big budget.

  • denscul
  • 5/3/13

  Take Ray Miland, a 55 T Bird, a million bucks stashed in the trunk, a young Anthony Quinn, and set them out in the Arizona Desert, near the Mexican Border. Ironically, this time its the Gringo who wants to cross illegally over the border to Mexico. Debra Paget plays the girl who switches her love and allegiance enough to make the plot interesting, if not a little too cute. The film starts in a broken down ranch, were Paget is so out of place in her flaming red hair, and obvious dislike of her circumstances. The viewer learns she is an ex con, and Quinn got her out of prison with the promise of marriage. Which explains how she didn't resemble any housewife living at the edge of poverty in the Arizona desert. In the middle of a domestic fight, where Paget decides to leave, arrives Miland, her former con-artist love. At this point, we learn that Paget loves Ray but does like Quinn, because he's the guy who got her out of prison, but hey, she's a city girl, and a hustler to boot. Quinn's character doesn't seem to mind who she is. You can guess it might have something to do with having a playmate living out there in the middle of the desert. He's only human. This fact doesn't seem to be stated, but is the real reason Quinn decides to take 10K to help the pair get over the border. By then, Paget has seen Ray run over a Border Patrol agent, and is now part of a felony murder. The scenery in the escape is great, the tension between Ray and Quinn grows, and Paget begins to see the true characters of both men. One more murder of a miner met on the way is too much for Paget. After a number of turnovers in weapons, the last scenes are of Milland deciding to do a good deed, for once in his life. Quinn is trapped under a rock, and needs help. Poor Ray is run down, falls off a cliff, and his bucks fly out of the aluminum case. I had one of those, and my problem was getting it open. Twice, it opens on its own. Oh, well, its just a film.

• The River's Edge (1957)

  • Jay Higgins
  • 9/9/09

  This melodrama is a bit campy, but the high production values and a good cast make it entertaining. There are plenty of dramatic scenarios.

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