Run for Cover (Colorado) (1955)
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43% want to see it
(15 ratings)
In his first western since 1939's The Oklahoma Kid, James Cagney is a pillar of integrity in the Pine-Thomas production Run for Cover. Cagney plays Matt Dow, who at the beginning of the film has been released from prison after serving six years for a crime he didn't commit. Heading westward,… More In his first western since 1939's The Oklahoma Kid, James Cagney is a pillar of integrity in the Pine-Thomas production Run for Cover. Cagney plays Matt Dow, who at the beginning of the film has been released from prison after serving six years for a crime he didn't commit. Heading westward, Matt befriends young Davey Bishop (John Derek), whom he begins to regard as the son (or brother) he never had. When Davey is injured during a train holdup, Matt brings him to the farm of Mr. Swenson (Jean Hersholt) to convalesce. Here Matt falls in love with Swenson's daughter Helga (Viveca Lindfors). When word of Matt's prowess with a gun reaches the local townsfolk, he is offered the job of sheriff. Matt accepts, but on one condition: that the crippled Davey be appointed deputy. Matt's faith in Davey proves to be misplaced when the embittered boy throws in with the dreaded Gentry gang, but an 11th hour regeneration caps this "psychological western." The curiously Freudian relationship between Matt and Davey was par for the course for Nicholas Ray, who directed Run for Cover betwixt and between his more famous endeavors Johnny Guitar and Rebel without a Cause. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Nicholas Ray
- Genres
- Western, Action & Adventure, Romance
Unrated,
Critic Reviews
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Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
It's not as obviously masterful as some of Ray's other films, it's at the very least an entertaining horse opera with Cagney close to his best.
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Jaime N. Christley, Slant Magazine
As Olive's handsome, if no-bones, Blu-ray indicates, the film fairly oozes with the tempestuous emotions that point back to the auteur.
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Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ray endows it with his usual themes of generational conflict and societal injustice, and does a powerful job getting these themes across.
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Cast
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James Cagney
as Matt Dow
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John Derek
as Davey Bishop
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Viveca Lindfors
as Helga Swenson
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Jean Hersholt
as Mr. Swenson
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Ernest Borgnine
as Morgan
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Grant Withers
as Gentry
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Jack Lambert
as Larsen
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Irving Bacon
as Scotty
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Trevor Bardette
as Paulsen
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Ray Teal
as Sheriff
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Denver Pyle
as Harvey
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Emerson Treacy
as Bank Clerk
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Gus Schilling
as Doc Ridgeway
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Phil Chambers
as Andrews
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Harold J. Kennedy
as Devers
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Joe Haworth
as Miller
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John Miljan
as Mayor Walsh
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Henry Wills
as Townsman
- Frank Cordell
- Howard Joslin
- Jack Montgomery
- Rocky Shahan
