Rancho Notorious (1952)

Regisseur:

Fritz Lang

Drehbuchautoren:

Silvia Richards (story)
Daniel Taradash (screenplay)

Premierendatum:

1. März 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Werbezeile:

Where anything goes...for a price!

Plot:

A western based on the story "Gunsight Whitman" by Silvia Richards. Vern Haskell, a nice rancher, seeks...

Plot Keywords:

Bank Robbery | Chuck A Luck | Corruption | Election | Gambling

Nutzerkommentare:

An under-valued classic

Besetzung

Marlene Dietrich	...	Altar Keane
Arthur Kennedy	...	Vern Haskell
Mel Ferrer	...	Frenchy Fairmont
Gloria Henry	...	Beth Forbes
William Frawley	...	Baldy Gunder
Lisa Ferraday	...	Maxine
John Raven	...	Chuck-a-Luck dealer
Jack Elam	...	Mort Geary
George Reeves	...	Wilson
Frank Ferguson	...	Preacher
Francis McDonald	...	Harbin
Dan Seymour	...	Comanche Paul
John Kellogg	...	Jeff Factor
Rodd Redwing	...	Rio (as Rodric Redwing)

Alternativ:

Chuck-a-Luck (USA) (working title)
Engel der Gejagten (Österreich) (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) [de]
Gejagten, Die (Österreich) (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) [de]
Berüchtigte Ranch, Die (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) (8mm release title) [de]

Länge:

89 Min

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Farbe (Technicolor)

Seitenverhältnis:

1.37 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Altersfreigabe:

West Germany:16 (nf) | USA:Approved (PCA #15331) | Finland:K-16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1986)

Firma:

Fidelity Pictures Corporation

Dies und das:

Director Fritz Lang had originally planned to call this film "Chuck-a-Luck". However, the studio insisted that its name be changed to "Rancho Notorious" and when Lang asked why, he was told that it was because Americans wouldn't understand what "Chuck-a-Luck" (a gambling game commonly played in saloons in the Southwest) meant. Lang replied, "Well, it's a good thing that they all know what 'Rancho Notorious'[which has nothing to do with anything in the film] means!"

Dialogzitate:

Altar Keane: Go away and come back ten years ago.

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Verweis/Anspielung/Erwähnung in Marlene (1984)

Soundtrack:

Get Away Young Man

An under-valued classic

Fritz Lang's superlative western teeters dangerously on the edge of campness, (it's that infernal 'Legend of Chuck-a-Luck' ballad pounding away on the soundtrack, continually reminding us that this is a tale of 'hate ... murder and revenge'). Then, of course, there is that great gay icon Marlene Dietrich, looking extraordinary at fifty one as Altar Keane, boss of the outlaw hideout Chuck-a-Luck where Arthur Kennedy comes seeking the man who killed his girl in a robbery. In many respects the film is a perfect companion to Nicholas Ray's not dissimilar "Johnny Guitar", made around the same time and both featuring dominant women and weaker men and both dealing explicitly with 'hate, murder and revenge'.

This is a very tight piece of work, thematically dense and psychologically astute and directed by Lang in a truly classical style. It affords all the pleasures that a really good western should while still falling perfectly within a milieu recognizable from many of Lang's American works. "Johnny Guitar's" veiled lesbianism together with Nicholas Ray's growing reputation may have given it the edge but this, too, is a remarkable film, an essential work by one of the cinema's greatest directors.