Ride In The Whirlwind (1966)

Three drifters (Jack Nicholson, Cameron Mitchell, Tom Filer) wander into the hideout of a group of stagecoach robbers by chance. When the law comes to take the robbers in, they assume the drifters are part of the gang and when they escape, they are pursued as outlaws. Directed by Monte Hellman from a screenplay by Nicholson, this western was shot back to back with Hellman's THE SHOOTING which had some of the same cast. Like that existential western, this one is equally fatalistic. The cowboys here are victims of circumstance by being in the wrong place at the wrong time which seals their fate. Beautifully shot in Utah by Gregory Sandor (De Palma's SISTERS), the film's rich look belies the film's minimal budget restrictions. Never released theatrically in the U.S. (it went straight to TV), it was released in Europe where it was a hit and played in Paris for six months. It has since moved from cult status to a critically acclaimed western. With Millie Perkins, Harry Dean Stanton, George Mitchell, Rupert Crosse and Katherine Squire.