Whilst the buddy movie may seem like a fairly recent phenomenon, it’s a devise which has cut through genre and era since the early days of cinema. Westerns have seen several famous double-acts over the years. Most famously Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, Wyatt Earp & ‘Doc’ Holliday, ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok & ‘Calamity Jane’ and ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody & Annie Oakley. In John Ford’s Two Rode Together, Jimmy Stewart and Richard Windmark team-up to save the day.
Marshal Guthrie McCabe (Stewart) is content to live his life out as a local celebrity spending his days relaxing in a saloon owned by his partner Belle Aragon (Annelle Hayes). Together with his old friend Lieutenant Jim Gary (Windmark), they set out to negotiate the release of Comanche captives. However, whilst Gary is motivated by good intentions, McCabe is driven by profit. That is until he meets Elena (Linda Cristal), the captured Mexican wife of the Indian Stone Calf (Woody Strode).
Two Rode Together’s success is centred-on the relationship between McCabe and Gary. However, there are strong performances from the other actors, especially Annelle Hayes. Despite the drama, the camaraderie between the two leads gives a light atmosphere to proceedings. However, Ford does have some serious points to make. Whilst it’s not one of Ford’s best, Two Rode Together is an entertaining Western which adds a new spin on the genre.
Special Features:
- Stunning High-Definition Presentation
- Uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Isolated music and effects track
- Rebirth – A new and exclusive video essay on the film by Ford expert and scholar Tag Gallagher
- Booklet featuring a new essay on the film by critic and author Richard Combs
Two Rode Together is released on dual format today by Eureka Entertainment as part of their Masters of Cinema collection.
