For three years, Larry Delong (Randolph Scott) has been trying to track down Dan Marady (James Millican) and his outlaw gang. He’s so obsessed with his mission that he’s easily fooled by the gang and lured from the stagecoach he’s guarding in hopes of finding Marady.
With him out of the way, Marady’s gang robs the stage, killing the driver and wounding another guard and two passengers.
But Marady has his sight set on a bigger target, a gambling house back in town. The stage holdup should lure all of the able-bodied men from town, so it will be easy to take.
DeLong discovers the plan and heads back to town of Deep Water to warn everyone.
But by this time, they’re convinced he was in on the stage holdup.
So he holes up in a cantina, trying to stay out of jail and keep his neck out of a lynch mob’s rope in hopes that he can spoil Marady’s plan when the gang shows up.
Randolph Scott as Larry Delong, trying to even the score with a killer named Marady in Riding Shotgun (1954)
Joan Weldon as Orissa Flynn, the woman who never loses faith in Larry Delong in Riding Shotgun (1954)
Review:
Similar in tone to “Silver Lode,” starring John Payne and released the same year. It’s another film in which a man in the right is believed to be in the wrong by everyone around him except for his lady love, played in this case by Joan Weldon.
Except this film isn’t quite as well done, and Randolph Scott provides between the scenes narration every step of the way. There is a neat twist at the end involving a derringer we’re introduced to early in the film.
Wayne Morris had an odd role as Tub Murphy, a deputy sheriff who would rather eat than confront Larry Delong. And, yep, that’s Charles Bronson in an early role as one of the Marady gang members. He has his own score to settle, with Delong.
James Millican as Dan Marady, giving orders to Pinto (Charles Bronson) in Riding Shotgun (1954)
Charles Bronson as Pinto, a Marady’s gang member eager to settle an old score with Delong in Riding Shotgun (1954)
Directed by:
Andre De Toth
Cast:
Randolph Scott … Larry Delong
James Millican … Dan Marady
Wayne Morris … Tub Murphy
Joan Weldon … Orissa Flynn
Joe Sawyer … Tom Biggert
Charles Bronson .. Pinto
William Johnstone … Col. Flynn
Fritz Feld … Fritz
John Baer … Deputy Ross Hughes
Richard Garrick … Walters
Runtime: 75 min.
Wayne Morris as Tub Murphy, a deputy too slow to action for a town’s liking in Riding Shotgun (1954)
Kern Dibbs as Ben, one of the townsmen in a hurry to bring Larry Delong to ‘justice’ in Riding Shotgun (1954)
Memorable lines:
Fritz, cantina owner, after turning over his earning to his wife and his many daughters: “How can a man have so little business and so many kids?”
Deputy Ross Hughes of Larry DeLong: “Friend of yours, isn’t he?”
Sheriff Tub Murphy: “When you’ve gotta handcuff them, no one’s your friend.”
Deputy Hughes: “You jelly belly. We’d have had him if you’d have backed me up.”
Deputy Murphy: “If I had, we’d both been dead.”
Young hothead named Ben: “What’s all the tom foolery about. The whole town’s standing on its ears. You’re making a six-horse team out of one little ol’ saddle pony. All of ya. Larry Delong’s just a shotgun guard … Sure, he’s good with a gun, but he ain’t no Wild Bill Hickock or Wes Hardin, if he’s alive. And if he’s dead, he’s just a plain, ordinary corpse.”
Joe Sawyer as Tom Biggert and Richard Garrick as Walters, town leaders who doubt Larry Delong’s claims in Riding Shotgun (1954)
William Johnstone as Col. Flynn, ignoring warnings that his gambling hall is a target for the Malady gang in Riding Shotgun (1954)
Fritz Field as Fritz, the cantina owner who gives Larry Delong refuge in Riding Shotgun (1954)
James Bell as Doc Winkler, trying to issue his own warning to town leaders in Riding Shotgun (1954)
Mary Lou Holloway as Cynthia, trying to warn Orissa Flynn (Joan Weldon) about Larry Delong in Riding Shotgun (1954)
Randolph Scott as Larry Delong, caught by members of the Marady gang in Riding Shotgun (1954)
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