Jack Nicholson wrote a not-bad dark Western directed by Monte Hellman—1966’s Ride in the Whirlwind. IMBd describes it thus: “Three cowboys, mistaken for members of an outlaw gang, are relentlessly pursued by a posse.” After the pursuit starts up, things simply get worse. One of the cowboys is shot dead, the other two can’t convince a settler family they are innocents fighting for survival, loss of life is ubiquitous. That the cowboys (one of whom is played by Nicholson) can’t tell the posse they are not outlaws is utterly credible in context. The movie’s ending is fine but imperfectly shot. It is, I repeat, a dark shoot-’em-up—and entertaining.

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