Two Rode Together is an uneventful mess of a western.This film is extremely dull and contains many nonsensical moments. What is the deal with Sgt. Posey? Is he suppose to add comic relief, because he did no such thing. Didn't mind the main two characters, the rest were bad though.

It carries the mark of Ford. Two young men are competing for the same girl. There is a rambunctious fight in which someone has to knock the wooden chip from his opponent's shoulder. Somebody gets drunk There's a pretty girl in jeans and plaid shirt who emerges as a butterfly at the officer's dance. Two men make a long journey to visit a Comanche camp and bring back white captives.The cast features names like Carey, Carey Jr., Roberson, Hayward, Whitehead, Curtis, Lee, Devine, Bouchey, Brandon, Qualen, Pennick, and Strode. It not only suggests John Ford but it suggests "The Searchers" in particular.It's not "The Searchers" though; it's "Two Rode Together" with James Stewart and Richard Widmark in the leads and Shirley Jones and Linda Crystal as their ladies fair.The first half hour or so is entirely successful as a comic Western. Stewart is a cheerfully corrupt marshal in Tascosa, Texas, and Widmark is a captain in the US Cavalry. The film really depends on Stewart's portrayal of an utter scoundrel and he delivers. He flatly turns down the Army's request to visit the Comanche camp for humane reasons but on his way to the door, the major asks if money would make any difference. Stewart turns thoughtfully around. "Waall, ye -- yes. Yeah, money would make a difference." One of the best scenes has Stewart and Widmark sitting on a log next to a wide and shallow stream. Ford had the camerman and crew set up in icy waters up to their knees to get this long and unvarying shot of the two having a casually hilarious conversation.There are amusing moments later in the film as well, as Stewart tries to suggest ways that Linda Crystal can stop looking like an Indian and get all gussied up for the dance that night. Lamentably, Stewart knows nothing about women's fashions. "Why don't you -- you -- try -- wait a minute." And he takes Crystal's two long thick pigtails and twists them this way and that around her face and head while she stares up at him pitifully.When Ford gets serious, the movie falls apart, a pale shadow of "The Searchers." Confronted by a bare-chested Woody Strode -- a Comanche! -- who has come to reclaim his wife, knife in hand, Stewart whips out a pistol and shoots him to death where he stands. Linda Crystal is at least a docile recaptured captive. The other one they bring back -- a seventeen-year-old boy -- is not only ugly but must be listed among the world's worst actors. Not that he has much to do but kick and scream, but then many of the actors is small parts overact.When it's funny, it's funny. And when it's sad, it's REALLY sad.

Two Rode Together has some big names attached to it. John Ford; screenwriter Frank S. Nugent; James Stewart and Richard Widmark. But it doesn't live up to its potential.Widmark is fine but Stewart's performance is hard to figure out. Was he just not in a very good mood? I have to give him credit for taking risks as an actor, playing someone the audience is not likely to warm to. But it's hard to watch someone being peevish for two hours.This is one of Ford's lesser films. Like Stewart, he's one of my favorites. But this movie borders on being a mess. It covers similar ground to The Searchers, but comes up short in comparison.There's a great scene on a river bank, between Stewart and Widmark. It's often shown in documentaries about Ford. The scene (with no cuts) simply involves the two actors and their incredible timing. It's just about perfect. If only the rest of the film were as good.It's interesting to see Ford try a new Western location. The lovely Brackettville, Texas, area is pretty and green, with twisting trees and far-off blue mountain ranges. But it's not a very compelling location (like Ford's favorites, Monument Valley and Kanab, Utah). It doesn't do a lot for the film, dramatically.

While sitting on his porch one day in the small town of Tascosa, Texas, "Marshal Guthrie McCabe" (James Stewart) watches as a small troop of cavalry led by "Lieutenant Jim Gary" (Richard Widmark) rides into town. The lieutenant has orders to bring Marshal McCabe back with them to Fort Grant. When they finally arrive there the commander of the fort, "Major Frazier" (John McIntire) persuades both of them to ride into a Comanche camp and try to convince "Chief Quanah Parker" (Henry Brandon) to release some white hostages who had been captured as children and held there for some 7 to 15 years. What follows is essentially a standard western film for its day with a not-so-subtle message concerning bigotry. Now, both James Stewart and Richard Widmark are very talented actors and I suppose they performed in an adequate manner. The same thing goes for both Shirley Jones (as "Marty Purcell") and Linda Cristal ("Elena de la Madriaga"). They're both attractive and quite capable. But their roles were pretty standard and stereotypical. That said, perhaps if any of them had been given roles with more substance then this could have been a really great movie. But that simply wasn't the case due in part to the political message the director (John Ford) felt somewhat compelled to present. In short, this wasn't a bad western. But it's nothing to get excited about either.