Line #18 Film/RanchoNotorious


1	[[quoteright:326:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rancho_notorious_1952_poster_325.jpg]]
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3	''Rancho Notorious'' is a 1952 Western film shot in Technicolor, directed by Creator/FritzLang and starring Creator/MarleneDietrich as the matron of a criminal hideout called Chuck-a-Luck. Arthur Kennedy and Creator/MelFerrer play rivals for her attention in this tale of frontier revenge.
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5	Vern Haskell (Kennedy), a nice ranch hand, seeks out to avenge his fiancé's death when she is raped and killed during a robbery. His revenge leads him to Chuck-a-Luck, Altar Keane's (Deietrich) ranch set up to hide criminals, and he finds more than he bargains for.
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7	!!''Rancho Notorious'' contains examples of:
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9	* AllKnowingSingingNarrator: The ballad "The Legend of Chuck-a-Luck" is heard during the opening credits and throughout the film, using the lyrics as narration. According to the American Film Institute, this is the first American film to use a song in this manner.
10	* BankRobbery: Frenchy plans a bank robbery that involves most of the outlaws in Chuck-a-Luck. Things fall part when Kinch takes a shot at Vern partway through the robbery.
11	* BloodlessCarnage: Plenty of people are fatally shot, but the only time blood is seen on the screen is when Frenchy is wounded in the shoulder.
12	* TheChanteuse: Altar was a saloon singer before coming into the money that allowed to found Chuck-a-Luck. This provides justification for Dietrich to sing several sings during the film.
13	* ChattyHairdresser: Vern gets a haircut from a typically loquacious barber while searching for clues to Chuck-a-Luck's location.
14	* ConvenientlyPlacedSharpThing: After being bound by Vern, Wilson is able to cut his hands free by rubbing the rope on a nearby grindstone.
15	* FixingTheGame: The chuck-a-luck game in Baldy Gunder's saloon is fixed. The wheel spinner initially thinks Altar is shilling for the house when she tosses a $20 gold piece on table and ensures she wins. She keeps winning until Baldy steps in and orders her to lose. However, Frenchy intervenes, takes over the wheel, and ensures she wins the final spin.
16	* GetIntoJailFree: Vern shoots up the saloon in Gunsight so he will be arrested and placed in the same cell as Frenchy.
17	* HatDamage: During the firefight at Chuck-a-Luck, Frenchy shoots Comanche's hat off his head, forcing him to duck his head down again.
18	* InTheBack: Kinch murders his partner Whitey by shooting him in the back during a NoHonorAmongThieves betrayal.
19	* JailBake: The crooked sheriff of Gunsight attempts to smuggle a lockpick to his cronies in jail by hiding it inside a bottle of whisky. Due to a mix-up, the bottle winds up in Vern's hands instead.
20	* NoHonorAmongThieves: Kinch shoots his partner Whitey InTheBack when Whitey demands that they split the loot from the Whitlock robbery immediately, rather than waiting till they reach Chuck-a-Luck.
21	* OutlawTown: Altar Keane runs a horse ranch named Chuck-a-Luck that is really a cover for a hideout and base of operations for outlaws on the run.
22	* PistolWhipping: The ex-sheriff of Gunsight tricks his former deputy into bending over, then knocks him out with his pistol before breaking his cronies out of jail.
23	* RapeDiscretionShot: After Kinch has finished looting the safe, he turns and leers at Beth, who gets a look of horror on her face as realises what is about to occur. It then cuts to outside shot of the store where a single female scream is heard.
24	* SignatureItemClue: Vern sees Altar wearing the one-of-a-kind brooch that he gave to Beth on the day that she was murdered, and knows that one of the outlaws in Chuck-a-Luck must be the murderer.
25	* SlipIntoSomethingMoreComfortable: When Vern and Altar are alone at Chuck-a-Luck, Altar sends Vern out of the house to deal with his horse. When he returns, she has changed from her grubby ranch clothes into the slinky black dress he had asked her to wear for him earlier.
26	* SomethingElseAlsoRises: When Altar and Frenchy reunite after being separated by Frenchy being in jail, they embrace passionately. The camera pans from their embrace to the fire Frenchy had been trying to light in the fireplace, which suddenly bursts into flame.
27	* TakingTheBullet: During the final gun battle, [[spoiler:Altar]] steps in front of a bullet Wilson fires at [[spoiler:Frenchy]]. However, due to the chaos of the gunfight, no one realise what [[spoiler:she]] has done or that [[spoiler:she]] has been fatally wounded till after the fight is over.

Context Film / RanchoNotorious