Two Rode Together

Jimmy Stewart made some incredible movies in the fifties, his run of movies in which he teamed with Alfred Hitchcock became some of the most important movies ever made. Still by the early sixties Stewart was back making Westerns, he made a ton in his career, and one would have had high hopes for a 1961 Western directed by the remarkable John Ford.

One would think this combination would make something special but Two Rode Together is far from it. Watchable, anything with Jimmy Stewart is watchable, the movie is the story of a lazy sheriff Guthrie McCabe who is coerced into leading a mission to ransom some white settlers stolen over the years by Cherokee Indians. Certainly this story has been told before in Western's, The Searchers, might be the best example of the premise, or of the Western itself.

Stewart's McCabe would rather not go but convinced by an Army Captain he can take bribes and ransom from the families he proceeds. Richard Widmark appears as his friend and Army LT Jim Gary, and off they go. In arriving at the settlement of family members they are greeted as conquering heroes.

Shirley Jones plays a young woman whose brother was kidnapped years ago. Young in this movie it is remarkable for those of us who grew up with her as Mother Partridge how attractive she really was, in a fresh faced Noxzema commercial kind of way. Not that you would have trouble knowing what was coming with this plot line but in case you do watch the movie box she owns very carefully.

In the end the negotiations are held, Stewart brings back a couple of captives, Sheriff McCabe is not really such a mercenary as he appears and along the way we learn a lesson about prejudice.

I love Jimmy Stewart ao it's not a terrible movie, still one might have expected more from a Ford/Stewart combination.