The Man from Bitter Ridge (1955)

Lex Barker is Jeff Carr, a stage-line employee sent to the town of Tomahawk to investigate a series of holdups.

He barely escapes a lynching when he’s mistaken for one of the bandits and suspects something’s afoul in Tomahawk when it becomes clear some leading citizens were tipped off to his new assignment. They include Ranse Jackman (John Dehner) and his gun-toting brothers, Clem and Linc.

Jackman has lofty political aspirations. He’s running for sheriff on a law-and-order platform and has his sight on the governor’s office.

His most noteable campaign pledge: To chase out the sheep herders who have built their own small town of sorts in the nearby hills.

He’s already convinced many of the good folks in Tomahawk that those sheep herders are responsible for the thievery and violence.

Carr quickly comes to believe Jackman’s simply trying to deflect blame from himself. He finds allies in the current sheriff (Trevor Bardette) and Alec Black (Stephen McNally), leader of the sheepman.

But there’s a hitch in Carr’s alliance with Black. They’re fond of the same girl, lovely Holly Kenton (Mara Corday), though she’s reluctant to settle down with any man.

Lex Barker as Jeff Carr, getting a friendly warning about trespassing from Alec Black in The Man from Bitter Ridge (1955)

Stephen McNally as Alec Black, leader of the sheepherders, settling a score in The Man from Bitter Ridge (1955)

Review:

The action comes at you fast and furious in this little B Western, complete with an attack on a sheep herd with dynamite and a large-scale climatic shootout on the streets of Tomahawk.

Barker, fresh off a five-film run as Tarzan, seems perfectly at home in Western duds and would wind up playing Old Shatterhand in a series of Euro-Westerns before his film career ended in the early 1970s. Corday, a former Playmate, plays a tomboyish female lead, but that doesn’t detract from her curvy appeal.

The film’s pitfalls: It takes Carr about a minute to figure out who’s really behind the trouble in Tomahawk and less time than that to fall for the curvaceous Holly Kenton. And Ranse Jackman first warns his brothers that all they need to do is be careful about gunplay until after the election. Then he almost immediately dispatches brother Linc and a hired gun to do away with Carr.

Bardette turns in a solid performance as the aging lawman under seige because of Jackman’s anti-sheepman propaganda. And Western fans will notice Ray Teal in a key role as a bandit willing to squeal on the men who have been giving him orders.

As for Corday, she was a former Playmate who plays a tomboyish female lead here and starred in a number of low-budget Westerns in the 1950s. After taking a long break from films to raise a family, she ended her career with bit roles in a series of Clint Eastwood films, including “The Gauntlet” and “Pink Cadillac.”

Mara Corday as Holly Kenton, the girl Jeff Carr and Alec Black would both like to claim as their own in The Man from Bitter Ridge (1955)

John Dehner as Ranse Jackman, ready for a showdown with Alec Black and the sheepman in The Man from Bitter Ridge (1955)

Directed by:
Jack Arnold

Cast:
Lex Barker … Jeff Carr
Mara Corday … Holly Kenton
Stephen McNally … Alec Black
John Dehner … Ranse Jackman
Trevor Bardette … Sheriff Dunham
Ray Teal … Shep Bascom
Warren Stevens … Linc Jackman
Myron Healey … Clem Jackman
John Harmon … Norman Robert
Richard Garland … Jace Gordon
John Cliff … Wolf Landers
Jennings Miles … Hank Mains

Runtime: 80 min.

Trevor Bardette as Tomahawk Sheriff Dunham, a lawman in need of help solving a series of robberies in The Man from Bitter Ridge (1955)

Ray Teal as Shep Bascom, a potential key witness against aspiring sheriff Ranse Jackman in The Man from Bitter Ridge (1955)

Memorable lines:

Jeff Carr, to Holly Kenton: “You’re not going to save a man’s life, then kill him again by not saying who you are.”
Holly Kenton, trying to fend off his flirting: “You know, men’s minds have got a way of being awful monotanous.”

Sheriff Dunham: “I’ve got a line on him (Jackman) all right, but it’s one thing to draw a picture and another thing to prove it.”

Alec Black, to Holly: “Woman ought to sit home with babies in their arms rather than shooting up the countryside.”

Alec Black, to Jeff: “Cowboy, you’re trespassing again.”
Jeff: “Look, as long as she’s got a Miss in front of her name, I figure she’s open range.”
Alec: “Now you’re wrong, cowboy. I put a fence around her long ago.”
Holly: “Just what do you two think you’re talking about. The next thing you’ll want to do is put a brand on my flank.”
Alec: “Say, not a bad idea at that.”

Jeff, talking about his uncle’s plan for him to retire to a desk job: “He’s got a great big desk for me up in San Francisco. Fancy leather chair, too. Trouble is, that desk work bores me up above and the chair numbs me down below.”

Mara Corday as Holly Kenton, casting Alec Black (Stephen McNally) a disapproving glance in The Man from Bitter Ridge (1955)

John Dehner as Rance Jackman and brothers Clem (Myron Healy, left) and Linc (Warren Stevens) watch trouble ride into town in The Man from Bitter Ridge (1955)

Lex Barker as Jeff Carr, welcomed to the Tomahawk area by the gun of Shep Bascom (Ray Teal) in The Man from Bitter Ridge (1955)

Stephen McNally as Alec Black and Lex Barker as Jeff Carr, teaming up to find the truth behind the trouble in Tomahawk in The Man from Bitter Ridge (1955)