RIDER ON A DEAD HORSE

The title sounds odd, but it is a Western. It's hard to think of a catchy title with Westerns, as many have been done, though nowadays there is far, far less of them than there was.  As a genre, the Western is not viable these days and few are made.

Luckily Warner Brothers' Archive Collection released RIDER ON A DEAD HORSE in 2013, so that it is available in the film's ratio of 1.78. The black-and-white film mainly stars four actors: John Vivyan (the protagonist), Bruce Gordon (the baddie), Kevin Hagen (the likeable swindler), and--the purpose of this blog, Lisa Lu.

From the outset, the film seems promising but also somewhat amateurish. So one wonders what the hell is Lisa Lu doing in this. But the role does give her prominence. Yes, she plays a prostitute. However, she is not a prostitute with a heart of gold, but, until she falls in love (with guess whom), she is manipulate and determined, and does not withhold the knife or the gun to get her way.

Though he is laconic and tall in the saddle, Vivyan is dour big-time in this film and does not exhibit much except to scowl. So that one also wonders what the hell is he doing in this film! It isn't even Spaghetti Western time. There is lot of arguing back and forth when he meets the Lu character, Ming Kwai.  He insults her and she him, so one begins to think of this as a mini-Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf tale of the sagebrush.

Then something happens. Sex. After that, Vivyan starts to see the light pretty quickly. Now he is a different man, protective of Lu. She teaches him to love, and ultimately to give up his quest for gold dust, but not before the baddie and the swindler turn up.

Though now he is a asterisk, Vivyan was a well-known actor in his time. He had done the popular MR. LUCKY on television, even though it was canceled after one season. Perhaps his popularity was one reason Lu took the part. The other reason, and probably a major one, was that she played a resolute and resourceful Asian female in a Western and is desirable to the characters of Vivyan and Hagen, and, I guess, to a lot of men.

RIDER ON A DEAD HORSE is somewhat of interest, particularly if you have an interest in the career of Lisa Lu. The real good news is that at least you can see the film. And Lisa Lu.

 Lisa Lu warning the writer of this blog to speed up the work.