"Loners. Drifters. Men bent on vengeance. Laconic in manner, economical in gesture, slow to anger but deadly when provoked. Begun unofficially in 1956 with Seven Men From Now, made under the auspices of John Waynes Batjac Productions, director Budd Boettinger and actor Randolph Scotts "Ranown Cycle"would eventually encompass six films, of which Ride Lonesome is both the best, and representative of the whole cycle. Visually and aesthetically, Ride Lonesome more than justifies New York Times critic Richard T. Jamesons assessment of the entire Ranown cycle as "the most remarkable convergence of artistic achievement in the history of low-budget moviemaking (rivaled only by Val Lewtons 1940s horror films for RKO)." Shot in a mere seventeen days for under a half-million dollars, Ride Lonesome is a masterpiece of cinematic minimalism, at once epic and austere.

Running a tight 73 minutes, Boetticher turns traditional Western tropes into rituals of re-enactment and revenge"--.