Ride a Crooked Trail

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Ride a Crooked Trail
Directed by	Jesse Hibbs
Produced by	Howard Pine
Written by	George Bruce (story) Borden Chase
Starring	Audie Murphy Gia Scala Walter Matthau
Music by	Henry Mancini
Cinematography	Harold Lipstein
Editing by	Edward Curtiss
Distributed by	Universal-International
Release date(s)	1958
Running time	87 min.
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Ride a Crooked Trail is a 1958 American western film, with former World War II hero Audie Murphy and future Academy Award winning actor Walter Matthau heading a strong if not well-known cast.

[edit] Plot

During his escape, bank robber Joe Maybe sees famous US Marshal Jim Noonan, who is searching for him, stumble and fall off a cliff to his death. He enters a town on the dead man's horse, where he is mistaken for Noonan. Maybe decides to hide behind the badge for a while, but soon raises the suspicions of the local law enforcer, Judge Kyle. His real identity is nearly blown when the riverboat brings to town Tessa Milott, a past acquaintance of Maybe's who calls him by his surname in front of the judge. Thinking quickly, Joe says she called him "Baby," and did this because she is his wife.

She must now pretend she is his wife to avoid further scrutiny from Kyle, but this in turn causes problems with her current boyfriend, bandit leader Sam Teeler. The "couple" moves into a house and are well respected in town, although their secrecy is nearly compromised by a young orphan boy who expects "the marshal and his wife" to adopt him. Tessa struggles between her loyalty to her real criminal boyfriend and her growing feelings for Maybe, but each man wants to rob the town's bank.