The Rawhide Years (1956)

Another variant of the old favourite “mystery who-dunnit-out-of-the-corrupt-local-dignitaries” as a local cattleman is murdered and the hero (Tony Curtis) is wrongly accused. I’m never a huge fan of this type of film, since they often rely too much of details hidden from the audience rather than compelling characters. Although “The Rawhide Years” suffers slightly from this, it’s better than most. In a large part, this is down to Tony Curtis’ hero, who is appealing as a reformed gambler/cheater who is framed for the killing of the cattleman that was trying to help him. Also good is Arthur Kennedy—playing substantially the same shifty, amoral rouge that he plays in Anthony Mann‘s “Bend of the River” and “Man from Laramie”. Here, however, he’s broadly sympathetic (more by chance than judgement).

The romance subplot is less satisfactory: it’s never really explained why Curtis’s lady-friend marries the villain but still loves the hero and wants to run off with him. Perhaps this isn’t necessary—she possibly had limited options given her circumstances—but it does feel a little underdeveloped.