NipPierce Wow, this is a REALLY bad movie!

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Eugene Fraga Unfortunately, this was the only Western directed by the talented Mark Robson. Has an excellent, tight screenplay by Daniel Mainwaring (AKA Geoffrey Homes) and Hugo Butler, from a story by Peter Viertel. The film boasts unusual violence for the Genre and for its time, with uniformly outstanding performances by Gloria Grahame, Claude Jarman Jr., Myrna Dell, John Ireland and Jeff Donnell. Character actors James Bell, Jeff Corey and Sara Haden were exceptionally good in small roles. Surprisingly, the usually dull leading man Robert Sterling proved he could act. Other highlights: the impeccable Joe Biroc photography, an evocative score by the underrated Roy Webb and the women costumes by Renie. Shamefully, as with many RKO Titles, WarnerVideo never released it on VHS, and the first DVD (Made on order) came out in January 2016!. If you love Westerns do not miss ROUGHSHOD, is on a par with the all time great.

GManfred Usually, westerns have a lot more action than "Roughshod". This one, however, is a character study starring Robert Sterling and Gloria Grahame and is a likable, well made picture. Peculiar storyline has Sterling and his younger brother trying to herd some horses to another town. Along the way they encounter Grahame and 3 other dance hall girls with a broken-down wagon enroute elsewhere, having been deemed morally bankrupt and driven out of a neighboring town. Sterling is also being chased by a vengeful John Ireland and 2 other escaped cons for some payback.The story is mainly about a budding -or not- romance between Sterling and Grahame which Sterling is trying to fight off. He is trying to maintain a righteous front for his younger brother played by Claude Jarman, Jr. in an excellent performance. As noted by other users, Gloria Grahame fans will enjoy seeing her in an admittedly routine role, but she has never looked prettier than here.The action is all in the last 10 minutes in an exciting finale. It is an unremarkable, ultimately satisfying film that grows on you and lasts only 88 minutes. It almost makes you forget that is mostly a talking picture that could have used a little more energy and maybe some second unit stuff.

bkoganbing Roughshod is a B western from RKO Studios where Robert Sterling and his younger brother Claude Jarman are driving a herd of horses to their new ranch. The brothers have been separated for years, but with their parents dying, they're reconnecting in this new venture. On the way they stop to help a group of four saloon girls also moving west for bigger and better opportunities. The girls are Gloria Grahame, Jeff Donnell, Martha Hyer and Myrna Dell. They all went on to have film careers of varying degrees of success and RKO was using this western as an opportunity to exhibit some of the flesh.Sterling also has John Ireland on his trail, an outlaw he wounded and put in jail for several years. He'd probably wait and shoot it out with him like Gary Cooper in High Noon, but with all these responsibilities, the best course is to keep moving. Although it's never said, it is sure implied here more than in most westerns done under the Code that the four girls are working girls. And the opportunities they seek are places where men are scarce and they can make money or even marry one.Naturally this makes the film perfect for Gloria Grahame who when you needed a woman of loose morals in the coming decade, she always got first call. She's who makes Roughshod any kind of memorable and without the women, Roughshod could have passed for a Gene Autry or a Roy Rogers product. Gloria however has a great deal more character to her than originally supposed. You'll see that if you watch Roughshod and believe me, she's the reason to check this film out.

dougdoepke Unusually adult Western for its time. Brothers Sterling and Jarman have to drive their horse herd over a dangerous mountain pass so they can start a ranch on the other side. Along the way, however, they encounter four stranded dance hall girls (Production Code euphemism for hookers). Now the brothers are torn between helping the women or getting their herd safely across. And, oh yes, there are the three baddies chasing Sterling, but they're in the movie mainly to provide action and not to drive the plot.Now, Robert Sterling doesn't exactly fit my image of a cowboy lead. He seems a shade too boyish and perhaps a little soft looking (likely why the unshaven stubble was added). However, he does well with the part, being convincingly tough when he needs to be. In fact, acting skill means more in this Western than in most because of the emotional interplay between the three principals, Sterling, Jarman, and Grahame. And, as it turns out, the chemistry between Jarman and Sterling is outstandingly unforced. There seems to be a genuine rapport between the brothers. Grahame, of course, specialized in this kind of compromised role in her all-too-brief and exotic career. Having her teach the skeptical Jarman to read amounts to an interesting character sidelight. In my book, however, the youthful Jarman walks off with the movie since he manages to be genuinely appealing without piling it on.For Sterling the challenge is whether to follow conventional morality and reject Grahame's overtures or to follow instinct and see the real potential in her. Jarman sees such inner qualities immediately since he has not yet learned to judge others according to stereotype. Fortunately the screenplay avoids getting sentimental over the conflict, and in fact handles the whole risky theme quite intelligently.The mountain shootout is scenic and well-staged. I wish I had a nickel for every nasty heavy John Ireland played during this period. But then, he was so very good at it. For a Western with a strong human interest side, director Robson avoids the usual pitfall of too much talk by moving things along nicely. All in all. the movie's an entertaining and satisfying 90 minutes with a genuinely humane message.