Ranch of the Ruthless (1965)

Richard Hornbeck (Rick Horn) is Oklahoma Dan Cross, who rides into Red River to find a group of bullies kicking a drunk out of the saloon.

He fires a couple of shots into the air, stands up to those bullies, shows off his badge and announces that the law has arrived in town.

But Georgiana White (Sabine Bethmann) is unimpressed. She’s seen lawman come and go and no one has solved the murder of her father.

So Oklahoma sets about doing just that, partly because Georgiana’s so darn pretty, partly because rumors have it that rich rancher (Rod Edwards) might have been behind those killings.

After all, those saloon bullies include his top hand Hondo and his son Jim, who spends his days drinking and flirting with saloon girls.

Was White killed because the elder Edwards wanted the ranch land that bordered his own? Or might he have been killed because someone else learned his land was rich with oil?

Richard Hornbeck (Rick Horn) as Sheriff Oklahoma Dan Cross, a lawman with a murder to solve in Ranch of the Ruthless (1965)

Jose Calvo (Joseph Calvo) as cattle king Rob Edwards confronting his wayward son in Ranch of the Ruthless (1965)

Review:

Richard Hornbeck scowls his way through his role, throwing fists more than bullets in an early Spaghetti that owes more to U.S. Westerns than the sytlishness of “Fistful of Dollars” (1964).

What makes the film a bit more unique is the part of George Herzig as Jim Edwards, a young son who’s an embarrassment to his cattle king father and doesn’t like trying to live up to the Edwards name.

Just don’t try figuring out why that son winds up returning to Red River late in the film. Or, more precisely, knows that Red River is where his father will be.

Our sheriff gets help from an old timer named Benjamin Franklin Everett — “Chuck” for short — and Michael, the man being bullied in the opening. He accepts a deputy’s badge after sobering up in Oklahoma’s jail for a week.

Oh, and the romance foisted into the plot is about as hokey as they come.

Sabine Bethmann as Georgiana White, a woman who doesn’t trust the law to do right in Ranch of the Ruthless (1965)

George Herzig as Jim Edwards, making a confession to his cattle king father in Ranch of the Ruthless (1965)

Directed by:
Jaime Jesus Balcazar
and Robert Bianchi Montero

Cast:
Richard Hornbeck … Sheriff Oklahoma Dan Cross
as Rick Horn
Jose Calvo … Rob Edwards
as Joseph Calvo
Sabine Bethmann … Georgiana White
Tom Felleghy … Steve Watson
as Tom Felleghi
Kal-Otto Alberty …. Hondo
as Charles Alberty
Jesus Puch … Benjamin Franklin “Chuck” Everett
George Herzig …. Jim Edwards
Fernando Rubio … Jose
as Ted Ruby
Eduardo Lizarza … Edwards
as Edward Lewis
Leontine May … Ms. Hogg
Giuseppe Addobbati … Ken Hogg
as John Douglas
Remo de Angelis … Michael, deputy

Runtime: 81 min.

aka:
The Man from Oklahoma
A Man, a Horse, a Gun
Oklahoma John

Music: Francesco De Masi as Frank Mason
Song: “Oklahoma John” by I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni

Jesus Puch as Benjamin Franklin (Chuck) Everett, the jailhouse helper, in Ranch of the Ruthless (1965)

Tom Felleghy as Steve Watson, the saloon owner with his eye on Georgiana White and her land in Ranch of the Ruthless (1965)

Memorable lines:

Rod Edwards: “Ugh, that kid.”
Assistant: “Jim’s still very young.”
Edwards: “What do you mean, he’s very young? He’s a drunken weakling and a lazy shiftless coward. And he’s my son.”

Jim Edwards: “I’m through listening to all your wild ideas. My own father hates me and treats me worse than a servant. In town, they hate me. Even all the girls in the saloon laugh behind my back. No! I’m through with it.”

Rod Edwards: “You must be crazy to talk to me like this. Don’t you care who I am?”
Oklahoma Dan: “Nope, I don’t. I’ve been told, but I’m not impressed. Not at all.”

Kal-Otto Albert (Charles Alterby) as Hondo, Rod Edwards top hand in Ranch of the Ruthless (1965)

Sabine Bethmann as Georgiana White, making up with Sheriff Oklahama Dan Cross (Richard Hornbeck) in Ranch of the Ruthless (1965)

Trivia:

Richard Hornbeck has just two credits on IMDb, and little was known about him until 2015 when his widowed wife Rosario contacted the Spaghetti Western Database and Westerns All’Italiana to fill in the blanks. She said he was 28 when he made this film, appeared in one other Western and a couple of Sword and Sandal films, but preferred acting in theater more than movies. They met in Italy, were married in 1979 and enjoyed 36 years of marriage before his death in May 2015 at age 78. They were living in Texas at the time.

The original title for the film was Oklahoma John, though in English prints, Hornbeck clearly states his name as Dan Cross when he meets “Chuck.” Adds Dan: “Folks shorten that up though. They call me Oklahoma.”

This marked the only Spaghetti Western and one of the last film roles for Sabine Bethmann, who had started a film career in the mid-1950s. According to IMDb, she was cast as the lead female in the role of Varina in “Spartacus” (1960) and began filming. But she was replaced by Jean Simmons when Stanley Kubrick took over direction from Anthony Mann.

Remo de Angelis as Michael, the drunk turned deputy in Ranch of the Ruthless (1965)

Giuseppe Addobbati (John Douglas) as Ken Hogg, questioning the wisdom of telling what he knows in Ranch of the Ruthless (1965)

Richard Hornbeck (Rick Horn) as Sheriff Oklahoma Dan Cross tries to console Ms. Hoff (Leontine May) in Ranch of the Ruthless (1965)

Richard Hornbeck (Rick Horn) as Sheriff Oklahoma Dan Cross, confronting a barroom drunk in Ranch of the Ruthless (1965)