MovieChat Forums > Ride in the Whirlwind (1968) Discussion > Questions on the movie (SPOILER WARNING)

Questions on the movie (SPOILER WARNING)


Please do not read any farther if you have not seen this movie.

Who was the hanged man that the three innocent riders came upon? I don't think he was one of the outlaws because at the first of the movie there were five of them which were accounted for when they got to the shack. I think it must have been some innocent person that the posse came upon and hung by mistake.

Didn't one of the real outlaws get away? It seems like one of them rode out to be lookout early in the morning and the posse must have missed him because when he saw what happened he got on his horse and rode away.

This movie is great and reminded me of The Ox Bow Incident where innocent people are hung by a sincere but hasty unreasonable mob. The thing is that the large majority of the mob seems like basically good people but they are caught up in the justice thing which is why mob violence is bad because inadvertently innocent people as well as the guilty lose their lives.

reply

I counted five ouotlaws. Given that, the initial hanged dude had to be an innocent hanged by the vigilante mob as there were also five outlaws when the cabin scenes took place.

Of those five, one had been wounded ("he fell on his knife") and is seen laying down, either asleep or comatose on a bed beneath a window inside the cabin. Another was on watch, sitting on a chair outside the cabin, with a rifle on his lap. Blind Dick (Harry Dean Stanton) was inside the cabin and came out to speak with the guy on watch. Two of their compatriots come riding up after checking the up country behind the cabin for trackers; one of these last outlaws to arive is Evan (George Mitchell); the other is Indian Joe (Rupert Crosse, the black guy).

Shortly thereafter, the wounded outlaw disappears (Harry Dean Stanton arises the following morning from the same bed on which the wounded man was resting). We are left to assume he didn't make it, which brings us down to four outlaws.

In the scene where the posse has encircled the cabin, one of the outlaws is hit by a lucky vigilante shot flies across the table, and presumed dead. That leaves three outlaws: HDS, Indian Joe and Evan.

When the cabin is torched, we are left to believe one outlaw, Evan, is caught inside and burned to death (George Mitehcell), which brings us dow to two outlasws.

Subsequent to that, Blind Dick (HDS) and Indian Joe (Rupert Crosse) surrender to the vigilante mob and are both hanged.

Wes (Jack Nicholson), Vern (Cameron Mitchell) and Otis (Tom Filer), wake from their overnight campsite upon hearing the vigilantes closing in on the cabin and, realizing they will be mistaken for more of the outlaws, start to flee.

Otis is hit by vigilante fire as they begin to ride off and dies shortly.

Vern's horse and then himself, are both hit by a vigilante gunfiure, but is able to pony onto Wes' horse and they ride off doubled up on one horse.

After a lengthy flight, Vern is left to die, at his own request, by Wes. We are left to decide if he died of his original gunshot wound, vigilante fire or committed suicide with his own gun.

We are left to presume that Wes, last seen riding into the sunset, gets away.

reply

[deleted]

There are five outlaws -
Adam - shot during the stage coach robbery, presumably dies of his wounds or is burned to death in the shack.
Blind Dick – the leader, hanged
Indian Joe – hanged
Roy/ Boyce – killed during the shack gunfight
Edgar – on guard overnight, manages to flee to safety

Note: Evan is the farmer/ squatter and is killed by Wes.

reply