Ride the Pink Horse (1947) is a Film Noir directed by Robert Montgomery and starring Robert Montgomery, Thomas Gomez, and Wanda Hendrix.
Gagin (Montgomery) rolls into San Pablo, a Mexican border town readying itself for the local fiesta against the god of bad luck. Amid the festive spirits, Gagin has a rather grim task in mind: avenge the death of his best friend who was killed by Hugo, a big shot gangster.
While on this quest, Gagin is followed by a FBI man who wants to deter him from any involvement with Hugo, and a wayward girl named Pila (Hendrix) who warns him of impending death. Along the way, a drunk carousel owner, Pancho (Gomez) helps Gagin with his mysterious mission where no one is sure what they want.
Thomas Gomez was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Pancho, the first Latin American ever nominated.
This film displays the following tropes:
- Bittersweet Ending: Gagin doesn’t get his revenge but is a better person. He gives Pila a chaste kiss on the cheek and rides off on the Greyhound bus to nowhere in particular.
- Brownface: Hendrix plays a Mexican girl in Brown Face. Contrarily, Thomas Gomez was Latin American, but not Mexican.
- Chiaroscuro: Although an “exotic” setting, the film takes place mostly in the dimly lit black and white shades of night.
- The Film of the Book: Based on the novel of the same name by Dorothy B. Hughes.
- The Ingenue: Pila is very innocent but also fiercely protective of Gagin and saves him on several occasions.
- Go Seduce My Archnemesis: Hugo sends his girlfriend to seduce Gagin and pretend she’s on his side. She makes a rather unconvincing Femme Fatale as her little plan doesn’t work as well as she had hoped.
- Knight in Sour Armour: Gagin is a man of little words and sarcastic temperament.
- Local Hangout: Las Tres Violetas is where all the locals drink their potent tequila and where Gagin hides out with Pila from Hugo’s henchmen.
- Reality Has No Subtitles: Whenever a local speaks Spanish, there is no translation provided for the audience.
- The Remake: The 1964 Made-for-TV Movie The Hanged Man, directed by Don Siegel and starring Robert Culp in the lead role.
- Title Drop: There are no real horses but merely Pancho’s carousel ride which Pila rides and then serves as a hideout.
