Ride the Pink Horse [Criterion Collection]

"This unusual crime melodrama directed by and starring Robert Montgomery is the story of friendship and revenge. Blackie Gagin,(Robert Montgomery) arrives in a small New Mexico town during fiesta time looking for crime-boss Frank Hugo (Fred Clark), who has killed Blackie's best friend. Bill Retz (Art Smith), an FBI agent who has been tracking Montgomery confronts him and demands the evidence that Blackie has that will convict Clark. Blackie goes to Hugo, attempts to blackmail him and is chased by Hugo's henchmen to a carousel operated by Pancho (Thomas Gomez). Blackie finally confronts Hugo in a scene that culminates in a chase and shootout. The plot of this offbeat film noir is convoluted and sometimes confusing, but the acting is above par and Montgomery's direction is always intriguing and helped him make the transition from actor to director. While the film, off-beat, and unusual, had a fine production by Joan Harrison who aided Alfred Hitchcock in so many of his best films, it failed to attract either audiences or critics, although Thomas Gomez received an Academy Award nomination for his performance. The fine script was written by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer, based on the novel by Dorothy B. Hughes."