If You Want to Ride

Ride the Pink Horse (1947) is an oddball desert noir that I've been wanting to watch for a long time. It turned out to be better, and possibly wackier, than I had hoped.

It was directed by and stars Robert Montgomery, who pulls up in a Southwestern desert town called San Pablo, but is clearly Santa Fe. In fact, he asks directions to La Fonda, and one of the native girls, Wanda Hendrix takes him there.

Short digression - My father had a matchbook from La Fonda. We've stayed there. We've drunk in their lobby and bought Zuni fetishes in their Indian Shop. We could tell this was filmed on location - I don't know why they didn't just call it Santa Fe.

Robert Montgomery is looking for local big shot Fred Clark (tall, bald guy with a mustache - you'll recognize him). But first he has to get through Clark's glamorous society girlfriend Andrea King and sly, mousy FBI man Art Smith, who thinks Montgomery might have some dirt on Clark.

But Montgomery has allies: mainly one Thomas Gomez, who operates the carousel in the plaza. After they get drunk together, Gomez lets him sleep in the little box by the carousel, where no one would think to look. Also, little Wanda Hendrix who has been following him around awestruck, like he's the most beautiful gringo she has ever seen. She's just a little Indian girl who's never been to the big city, and he even bought her a ride on the carousel (the pink horse, which explains the title). She doesn't look much like an Indian (maybe I could believe Mexican), but she is radiantly beautiful. She later married Audie Murphy, which didn't work out so well.

Montgomery is a little different in this one - he isn't suave, he's rough and coarse, with a whiny Brooklyn accent. He is an Army veteran, definitely enlisted. Of course, he treats Hendrix like dirt. He's pretty racist - he doesn't even call her Pocahontas, he calls her Sitting Bull.

As a directory, Montgomery has an offbeat style. This isn't as wild as Lady in the Lake (shot from the stars POV, so you only see him in the mirror), but it has it's moments. At one point, our hero is beaten into amnesia, and you see him repeat the steps he took at the start of the movie. It's a nicely surreal touch. There's another scene where the bad guys are threatening Gomez while he's operating the carousel, while the kids on the ride watch, terrified.

But my favorite part is all the Santa Fe locations. If you've ever been, check this out.