Left alone to watch my Grandfather's Florida home sometime during the early 80's, I stumbled across this lost classic on one of the cable movie channels and found myself drawn in by the mesmerizing performance of Marjoe Gortner. For seven consecutive days I continued to be moved during repeated viewings by the powerful, yet tragic vision of Marjoe's Teddy, a disgruntled, disillusioned child of the 50's and victim of his service in a war that no one has quite learned to come to terms with. Teddy lashes out against the lies, the corruption, the restrictions, and the myths that shaped many of his generation which, when applied to the darker, cynical realities that he and his brethren met upon their coming of age, fell woefully short of the truth. Added to the terrors that Teddy subjects his fellow cast members and viewers to are glimpses into the psyche of an America not yet ready to confront itself, but standing on the cusp of discovery. They are in need of push which they get in the form a good swift kick (actually many repeated kicks) by the verbally, physically, and psychologically abusive young rebel. In the end, each one is held up to the mirror and confronts the reflection that his or her reality. I took the ride along with them from opening to closing scene for that long week of viewing and haven't forgotten the film's affect on me for a single day since. Gortner's performance may have indeed been too powerful, too real, and too biting for release on video and DVD. It's really too bad because we need to confront ourselves now every bit as much as we did in the days following that war that no one wants to remember, but none of us will ever forget. When, you coming back Red Ryder? We sure could use you.
Review of When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
