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West of the Pecos (1945)
Rachel and the Stranger (1948)

West of the Pecos (1945)
July 29, 2011 - 7:30 pm
Billy Wilder Theater


West of the Pecos (1945)

Directed by Edward Killy

Having escaped the stock company of the Hopalong Cassidy films, actor Robert Mitchum was groomed by RKO to be its new B Western star after Tim Holt joined the military.West of the Pecos was Mitchum’s second star turn in the genre, after Nevada, both Zane Grey adaptations, here playing Pecos, a fun-loving cowpoke battling to clear his name of a murder he didn’t commit. Along the way, he crosses paths with a family of vacationing Easterners whose eldest daughter, Rill, (Barbara Hale) has disguised herself as a man to better blend in on the range. Terrific action comes punctuated with gender-bending cheek—offering his sleeping bag to the “boy” on a cold night, Pecos urges, “Come on, get in and cuddle”—suggesting Mitchum’s versatility with genre material that didn’t always play it straight.

RKO. Producer: Herman Schlom. Based on the novel by Zane Grey. Screenwriter: Norman Houston. Cinematographer: Harry J. Wild. Editor: Roland Gross.Cast: Robert Mitchum, Barbara Hale, Richard Martin, Thurston Hall, Rita Corday.

35mm, b/w, 60 min.

Rachel and the Stranger (1948)

Directed by Norman Foster

William Holden gets most of the screen time here as a log cabin widower who buys out the contract of an indentured servant, Rachel (Loretta Young), and makes her his wife for purely practical reasons. Inexplicably cast in a supporting role by RKO, Mitchum nevertheless steals the film as a seductive, singing frontier hunter who lights a fire in Rachel’s heart and sparks a fit of jealously in her husband.

RKO. Producer: Richard H. Berger. Based on a short story by Howard Fast. Screenwriter: Waldo Salt. Cinematographer: Maury Gertsman. Editor: Les Millbrook. Cast: Loretta Young, William Holden, Robert Mitchum, Gary Gray, Tom Tully.

16mm, b/w, 93 min.

Part of: 
Tracking the Cat: Robert Mitchum in the West