Ride the Pink Horse (1947)

[Oscar Rothman]

Ride the Pink Horse Blu-ray

Ride the Pink Horse

Hollywood actor turned idiosyncratic auteur Robert Montgomery directs and stars in this striking crime drama based on a novel by Dorothy B. Hughes. He plays a tough-talking former GI who comes to a small New Mexico town to shake down a gangster who killed his best friend; things quickly turn nasty. Ride the Pink Horse features standout supporting performances from Fred Clark, Wanda Hendrix, and especially Thomas Gomez, who became the first Hispanic actor to receive an Academy Award nomination for his role here. With its relentless pace, expressive cinematography by the great Russell Metty, and punchy, clever script by Charles Lederer and Ben Hecht, this is an overlooked treasure from the heyday of 1940s film noir.

Special Features:

New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary featuring film noir historians Alain Silver and James Ursini
New interview with Imogen Sara Smith, author of In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City
Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the film from 1947, featuring Robert Montgomery, Wanda Hendrix, and Thomas Gomez
PLUS: An essay by filmmaker and writer Michael Almereyda