Episode 188 – Monte Hellman’s The Shooting & Ride in the Whirlwind

Scott, David, and Trevor talk production models, genre, and drug trips in Hellman's landmark low-budget westerns.

This time on the podcast, Scott is joined by David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett to discuss Monte Hellman’s The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind.

In the midsixties, the maverick American director Monte Hellman conceived of two westerns at the same time. Dreamlike and gritty by turns, these films would prove their maker’s adeptness at brilliantly deconstructing genre. Shot back-to-back for famed producer Roger Corman, they feature overlapping casts and crews, including Jack Nicholson in two of his meatiest early roles. The Shooting, about a motley assortment of loners following a mysterious wanted man through a desolate frontier, and Ride in the Whirlwind, about a group of cowhands pursued by vigilantes for crimes they did not commit, are rigorous, artful, and wholly unconventional journeys to the Old West.

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Roger Corman and Monte Hellman discuss the films

Episode Links

The Shooting/Ride in the Whirlwind – The Criterion Collection
The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind: We Can Bring a Good Bit of Rope – From the Current – The Criterion Collection
The Shooting (1966) – IMDb
Ride in the Whirlwind (1966) – IMDb
The Shooting – Wikipedia
Ride in the Whirlwind – Wikipedia
The Shooting (1966) – #734 | Criterion Reflections
Ride in the Whirlwind (1966) – #735 | Criterion Reflections

Episode Credits

Scott Nye (Twitter / Battleship Pretension)
David Blakeslee (Twitter / Criterion Reflections)
Trevor Berrett (Twitter / The Mookse and the Gripes)