Ride in the Whirlwind (1966)

Directed by Monte Hellman. Written by Jack Nicholson. 

The cruel injustice of coincidence is presented unadorned in Monte Hellman’s Ride in the Whirlwind as Jack Nicholson, Cameron Mitchell and Tom Filer play three ranch hands who are mistaken for stagecoach robbers and must fight tooth and nail to escape the pursuing posse who look to gun them down or string them up. 

Nicholson is behind the script too, and he shows us two things early on and leaves it at that:  there’s tension between his character, Wes, and his two co-riders, Vern and Otis, and all three are riding through callous country. They come across a man hung from a branch, dead for days, and as they prepare to bed down for the night, they spar over what they want their future to hold. 

The world of Ride in the Whirlwind is indifferent to it all, and Hellman directs the ensuing misfortune of Wes, Vern, and Otis with a matter-of-factness that serves the philosophical outlook well. As they scramble through brush, worm through the desert sand, or run their feet raw, you can almost hear them curse their fate (if it wasn’t for the whizzing of bullets and their ricocheting pangs). 

There’s a nihilistic nailbiter buried here somewhere, but it’s lost in the sweeping sand, as Hellman’s sense of pacing leaves a lot to be desired. I’ve never seen a hail of bullets possess the menace of drizzle, and long takes of unmoved faces meant to signify mortal duress. It’s got no grip on the bloody business of life. Hellman’s slack grip on the action transfers to his sense for suspense as well, as several scenes see their potential run out in the sand. Wes, Vern and Otis are living by a razor’s edge, and several scenes see the balance totter, but it all possesses the tension of a cakewalk. 

His actors appear strangers too, with only the pleasant chemistry of coworkers to show they’re familiar. Nicholson and Mitchell can’t find the friction their characters need, and in general, Ride in the Whirlwind is tethered to two tentpole performances. One is Nicholson, who delivers on the material his own script provides him, and the other is Harry Dean Stanton, ringleader of the bandits who cause this mess. 

Stanton’s shifty appearance, complete with eyepatch, is enough to convince you he’s a crook, but the gleam in his one visible eye and the sticky sweetness in his manner as he tries to hoodwink is what inspired acting looks like, with nothing of it on the page. Stanton summons it all, and shows his ability to steal scenes left and right. It’s a testament to his incredible talent as a character actor, which is already evident this early in his career. 

Ride in the Whirlwind has a compelling outlook and vision going for it, but it’s never lifted off the page, leaving Hellman’s film missable save for a few moments that just make the overall tepid affair all the more disappointing.