A James Cagney western, that sounds like a bad idea but turns out it's not, also turns out he made three of them over the course of his career. In 'Run for Cover' Cagney and a young man he meets on the trail (John Derek) are mistaken for train robbers, the young man is shot in the leg by an over anxious sheriff and his possse. The kid almost dies but Cagney and a Swedish immigrant father (Jean Hersholt) / daughter (Viveca Lindfors) pair nurse him back to health. For keeping his head the town makes Cagney the new sheriff, Cagney takes the kid on as deputy but his injury lessens his usefulness when real outlaws come to town.
So the film contains a conventional outlaw plot, father/surragate son stuff, a sweet romance between Cagney and Lindfors and also the matter of the Cagney characters mysterious past. On the surface this should all be largely generic, throw away stuff, but Nicholas Ray elevates the hell out of this material. It's emotionally involving, with vivid characters, and beautiful color location shooting in Colorado and New Mexico. At times this film is down right gripping, the emotional stuff is handled extremely well. I am truly shocked how good this was.
James Cagney loved the experience of filming with Ray. It had been a long time since a director really took him seriously as an actor, Ray wanted to talk technique with him, character motivation. Making this movie was a real rejuvenating experience for Cagney who would call Ray one of his favorite people he ever meet in Hollywood. The supporting cast is solid, Derek is a little weak but he does fine, Hersholt makes the most of his screen time and Lindfors is charming. This movie took me by surprise in terms of its quality and consistency, I took a bit of a risk renting it but it really paid off. ***1/2
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