The Ride to Hangman’s Tree (1967)

Three bandit friends — Jack Lord as Guy, James Farentino as Matthew, and Don Galloway as Nevada — decide to part ways after a close call with a hangman’s tree.

But they are reunited in Sacramento, where the mines are rich with gold and where Matthew has found a sweet new deal.

With some inside information from a crooked Wells Fargo employee, he poses as respectable rancher by day, but dons a black outfit and robs stagecoaches of gold shipments by night.

Soon, the reward mounts for the black bandit. Guy and Nevada helped save the stage crew during one of the Black Bandit’s jobs, earning them the gratitude of Wells Fargo and jobs as stage guards.

They figure to start robbing the shipments themselves and pinning the blame on the black bandit.

Into this mix arrives a traveling showgirl (Melodie Johnson as Lilly Malone) wearing a small fortune in diamonds.

The value of the diamonds attracts the interest of all three bandits. Once they meet lovely Lillie, the interest goes beyond the diamonds she’s wearing.

Guy and Matthew immediately begin vying for her affections. But it’s Matthew she really falls for, though wary of the double life he’s leading.

Review:

In many places, a word-for-word remake of “Black Bart,” a 1948 Western starring Dan Duryea as the bandit and Yvonne De Carlo as the showgirl, albeit with a decidedly different outcome.

Twenty years later, this works because the film doesn’t take itself very seriously and because of three likeable leads, with Farentino and Lord playing the lady’s men constantly trying to one-up one another.

Melodie Johnson adds to the film’s appeal and does a saucy performance of “Good Girls and Bad Girls.”

Oh, and ignore the film’s poster. She’s alluring, but lures no man to the wrong side of the law.

In fact, she figures out pretty quickly that Matt — the man she could fall for — is the bandit and encourages him to lead a more lawful life if he wants a future with her.

Directed by:
Alan Rafkin

Cast:
Jack Lord … Guy Russell
James Farentino … Matt Stone
Don Galloway … Nevada Jones
Melodie Johnson … Lillie Malone
Richard Anderson … Steven Carlson
Robert Yuro … Jeff Scott
Ed Peck … Sheriff Stewart
Robert Cornthwaite … T.L. Harper
Paul Reed … Corbett
Fabian Dean … Indian
John Pickard … Pete
Claudia Bryar … Mrs. Harmon
Robert Sorrells … Blake

Runtime: 90 min.

Saloon song: “Good Girls and Bad Girls”
by Melodie Johnson

Memorable lines:

Nevada: “Don’t you worry any more about that black bandit. Where we come from, he’s only be pale gray.”

Nevada: “Something’s been bothering me lately.”
Guy Russell: “What’s that?”
Nevada: “We’ve been run out of Kansas, Nevada, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. What are we gonna do when we run out of places?”
Guy: “Head further West.”
Nevada: “There’s an ocean out there some place.”

Lillie Malone, about all the flowers sent to her by Matt Stone: “This California hospitality amazes me, Mr. Stone. Are you always so lavish with your welcomes?”
Matt Stone: “No. Matter of fact, a U.S. Senator came to town last week. I didn’t send him a single flower.”
Lillie: “Then you’re more interested in art than politics?”
Matt: “Well, let’s just say I’m more interested in artists than politicians.”

Guy Russell: “There was something familiar about that kick in the pants I took.”
Matt Stone: “You must be pretty sensitive there if you can tell one from another.”

Lillie Malone: “Mr. and Mrs. Bandit. Somehow that doesn’t seem very permanent.”
Matt Stone: “Well, you have to admit, it doesn’t sound dull.”