Three drifters named Vern (Cameron Mitchell), Wes (Jack Nicholson) and Otis (Tom Filer) stumble upon a line shack where fiver men are staying, including a leader named Blind Dick.
Though they suspect the men are outlaws, they decide to take advantage of the offer of a meal and a place to rest.
Then a posse shows up. Soon, the bandits are dead. Two are pulled from a burning shack and hanged.
Otis is shot down, too. And Vern and Wes are on the run, first by horse, then on foot..
They wind up at a small homestead where a man named Evan lives with his wife and daughter (Millie Perkins as Abigail).
But the vigilante committee shows up too.
Wes is determined he won’t be hanged like the two outlaws; Vern isn’t sure in which direction to run.
Jack Nicholson as Wes in Ride in the Whirlwind (1965)
Cameron Mitchell as Vern in Ride in the Whirlwind (1965)
Review:
More traditional than its companion piece, “The Shooting,” and therefore not as intriguing. Like “The Shooting,” this was directed by Monte Hellman; unlike the other film, this was also scripted by Jack Nicholson.
The high praise reserved for this film is difficult to understand. Most of the acting is second rate. Millie Perkins is given little to do except stand around looking bored. She doesn’t even seem all that concerned about the arrival of two men who are supposed to be killers.
But you won’t find a less romantic version of the West from the 1960s. The homesteader spends days hacking away at a stump. Resting up at the homestead, Wes says it’s the least work he’s done in a day since he was 4.
And, of course, at the center of the film are three men running for their lives simply because they were in the wrong place a the wrong time — sure death, not a trial — awaiting them if they’re caught.
Millie Perkins as Abigail in Ride in the Whirlwind (1965)
Brandon Carroll as Quint Mapes, leader of the posse in Ride in the Whirlwind (1965)
Directed by:
Monte Hellman
Cast:
Cameron Mitchell … Vern
Jack Nicholson … Wes
Tom Filer … Otis
George Mitchell … Evan
Millie Perkins … Abigail
Katherine Squire … Catherine
Dean Stanton … Blind Dick
Rupert Crosse … Indian Joe
E.J. Merholtz … Edgar
Peter Cannon … Hagerman
Brandon Carroll … Quint Mapes
John Hackett … Winslow
William Kelly .. Roy
Charles Eastman … Drummer
Runtime: 82 min.
George Mitchell as Evan, Abigail’s dad in Ride in the Whirlwind (1965)
Katherine Squire as Catherine, Abigail’s mother in Ride in the Whirlwind (1965)
Memorable lines:
Vern, trying to keep Wes going as they flee a posse: “Better blisters than neck burns.”
Vern: “Seems peculiar. Sitting here, playing checkers, while there’s a lot of men out there, lookin’ to string us up.”
Wes: “Why don’t you put a tune to it?”
Tom Filer as Otis in Ride in the Whirlwind (1965)
Harry Dean Stanton as Blind Dick, the outlaw leader in Ride in the Whirlwind (1965)
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