IMDb RATING
6.8/10
5.5K
YOUR RATING
After the murder of his fiancée, a Wyoming ranch hand sets out to find her killer.After the murder of his fiancée, a Wyoming ranch hand sets out to find her killer.After the murder of his fiancée, a Wyoming ranch hand sets out to find her killer.
Rodd Redwing
- Rio
- (as Rodric Redwing)
Victor Adamson
- Racer with Fat Girl
- (uncredited)
Roger Anderson
- Red
- (uncredited)
Al Bain
- Race Spectator
- (uncredited)
Ray Beltram
- Barfly
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDirector Fritz Lang had originally planned to call this film "Chuck-a-Luck". However, studio head Howard Hughes insisted that its name be changed to "Rancho Notorious", and when Lang asked why, he was told that it was because non-Americans (Europeans) wouldn't understand what "Chuck-a-Luck" (a gambling game commonly played in saloons in the Southwest) meant. Lang replied, "Well, it's a good thing that they all know what 'Rancho Notorious' (which has nothing to do with anything in the film) means!"
- GoofsWhen Haskell and Fairmont are in the cell and talking about gambling. One of them refers to a Chuck-a-Luck "Wheel". There is no wheel in Chuck-a-Luck. Chuck-a-Luck is a dice game, it's played with three dice usually contained in an hour-glass shaped rotatable cage. Bets are placed as to what number will come up on gaming table. The game played in the film involves a wheel with pegs in between representations of all the possible 3-dice rolls, which is the wheel that is both talked and sung about. This is a variation on the original game called Big Six Wheel. Because of the distribution of the combinations, the house advantage or edge for this wheel is greater than for chuck-a-luck.
- Quotes
Altar Keane: [to Vern] I'd wish you go away... and come back ten years ago.
- Crazy creditsAs the title song plays and Bill Lee sings the lyric "... and a man of steel ..." there are eleven names of supporting actors on screen, and the name in the central position is George Reeves, soon to be cast as The Man of Steel in *The Adventures of Superman* (1952-58).
- ConnectionsEdited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Fatale beauté (1994)
Featured review
Lust in the dust
Rancho Notorious, despite the colorful title, is a dud. The film starts off with a stereotypical western beginning: Vern Haskell (Arthur Kennedy) is a nice rancher who goes on the trail of the outlaw that murdered his fiancé. The trail leads him to Chuck-a-luck, a haven for outlaws run by former saloon girl Altar Keene (Marlene Dietrich). He soon enters into a torrid love triangle between him, Altar and veteran gunslinger Frenchy Fairmont (Mel Ferrer), while also trying to find the murderer of his fiancé.
Directed by Fritz Lang(!), Rancho Notorious is definitely an interesting film. The first half of the film, covering Vern trying to discover Chuck-a-luck, is actually quite good. The scene with Vern, Frenchy and the politicians is quite fun. However, the rest of the film is standard western stuff, and I kinda zoned out towards the end.
The uncharismatic Arthur Kennedy is awful in the lead; the production crew uselessly tried to make Mel Ferrer look older than Kennedy but putting a grey streak in his hair! Hearing everyone calling 38-year old Kennedy "boy" got grating after a while.
Marlene gives a typically good performance, while Ferrer gives the best performance of the film as the weary gunslinger (I wish the film had been about his character instead). William Frawley gets a memorable bit as a saloon owner, and Chuck-a-luck is populated by recognizable faces like George Reeves, Francis McDonald and Dan Seymour.
Overall, Rancho Notorious wastes the talent of the people involved, though it's still an entertaining 89 minutes.
Directed by Fritz Lang(!), Rancho Notorious is definitely an interesting film. The first half of the film, covering Vern trying to discover Chuck-a-luck, is actually quite good. The scene with Vern, Frenchy and the politicians is quite fun. However, the rest of the film is standard western stuff, and I kinda zoned out towards the end.
The uncharismatic Arthur Kennedy is awful in the lead; the production crew uselessly tried to make Mel Ferrer look older than Kennedy but putting a grey streak in his hair! Hearing everyone calling 38-year old Kennedy "boy" got grating after a while.
Marlene gives a typically good performance, while Ferrer gives the best performance of the film as the weary gunslinger (I wish the film had been about his character instead). William Frawley gets a memorable bit as a saloon owner, and Chuck-a-luck is populated by recognizable faces like George Reeves, Francis McDonald and Dan Seymour.
Overall, Rancho Notorious wastes the talent of the people involved, though it's still an entertaining 89 minutes.
helpful•40
- guswhovian
- Aug 30, 2020
- How long is Rancho Notorious?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Chuck-a-Luck
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $900,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 29 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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