alr

Ride in the Whirlwind

Screening on Film
Directed by Monte Hellman.
US, 1965, 35mm, color, 82 min.
Print source: Monterey Media

Jack Nicholson and Cameron Mitchell are two unlucky cowboys who mistakenly wander into the crosshairs of a merciless avenging posse in Hellman's relentlessly dark and brooding Western. As frightening as the bloodthirsty posse's inexorable justice is the lonely life of backbreaking toil, muttered prayers and pleasureless domesticity they encounter in the prairie Gothic home of a family of "sodbuster" farmers. An important showcase for Nicholson's little known talent as a screenwriter, Ride in the Whirlwind also reveals Hellman's preternatural ability to craft psychologically intense drama and an indelible sense of place on a shoestring Roger Corman budget. – HG

Part of film series

Read more

All Roads Lead to Nowhere. The Films of Monte Hellman

Current and upcoming film series

Read more

Jean-Pierre Bekolo, 2024 McMillan-Stewart Fellow

Read more

The Practice (and Other Works) By Martín Rejtman

Read more

Chronicles of Changing Times. The Cinema of Edward Yang

Read more
Gene Hackman crouched beside a toilet with audio equipment

From the HFA Collection...

Read more

Being In a Place. Rediscovering Margaret Tait