I was drawn to this fine Western because it features my favorite actor, James Coburn, in his film debut.  Coburn is skinny as a rail and has the film’s funniest line of dialogue, late in the story.  He doesn’t have a whole lot to do, but it’s great seeing him so young and fresh.

Although Ride Lonesome (1959) is a Randolph Scott Western — one of the last he made — it isn’t craggy Scott who dominates the piece.  Nor is it Coburn.  Charismatic Pernell Roberts steals this motion picture with what looks like effortless charm.  In just his third movie, Roberts plays one of two outlaw types (Coburn is the other) who tag along with bounty hunter Scott to transport killer James Best to Santa Cruz for trial, with Best’s brother, played by Lee Van Cleef, and his men hot on the trail.  Roberts plays his role on the moral fence between gentlemanly courtesy and determined selfishness.  It’s a wonderful performance that should have made him a movie star but instead launched him into “Bonanza.”

As with most of the “Ranown” cycle of Scott Westerns, Ride Lonesome is thematically dark, dealing with revenge, murder, Indian attack, loneliness and peril to women.  What makes it so enjoyable is its light touch, courtesy of veteran Western writer Burt Kennedy and director Budd Boetticher.  Their story is realistically harsh and the California settings are quite rocky and desolate, yet the characters feel right at home.  Their musings about life reveal unexpected depth of understanding and feeling, offering insight not just into themselves but their world — and ours.

Ride Lonesome is one of five Budd Boetticher-directed Randolph Scott Westerns of the late 1950s now available in a 5-disc Budd Boetticher set on DVD.  All are worth watching; this one’s my favorite.  My rating:  ☆ ☆ ☆.  (10:2).