Rent Ride the Pink Horse (1947)

Political Noir. - Ride the Pink Horse review by Steve

Cult film noir set in New Mexico in the aftermath of WWII. Robert Montgomery returns from the Pacific with his pal who gets rubbed out by a mafia boss (Fred Clark) for trying to put on the bite for a crooked Government contract. The ex-GI tracks the gangster south to San Pablo during the fiesta, while being tailed himself by an FBI agent (Art Smith).

For a noir, Ride the Pink Horse doesn't have a strong expressionist look; this isn't a town of shadows. It is most like film noir for its political context. The promised postwar settlement has fallen through. Semi-legitimate gangs and crooked politicians have been getting rich while a generation of young men were fighting in Europe and the East.

The laconic, traumatised hero has lost his girl and his friend and his belief in his country. He has no faith in the law which allowed the killer to go free. Criminality has been normalised. But in San Pablo he meets honest citizens among the Mexican poor; the trusting, guileless Wanda Hendrix and an optimistic fairground worker played by Thomas Gomez (who was Oscar nominated). This challenges his racism and cynicism.

The enigmatic title hints that this stowed a socialist message inside a low budget thriller. Perhaps it was this which attracted A list writers Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer, and Montgomery, to such a minor production. It was released in '47, when the Hollywood blacklist was introduced to prevent films like this being made. It works best as a woozy, dreamlike political allegory.