Ride the Pink Horse

In my personal noir godhead of Cain, Chandler, and Highsmith, there is plenty of room for Dorothy B. Hughes.

Hughes is best known for IN A LONELY PLACE, an elegant and chilling novel later adapted into the quintessential noir directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame. Some say it’s Bogie’s best performance, and I tend to agree.

However, RIDE THE PINK HORSE is a tour de force in its own right. Set during a New Mexico fiesta where three men come together to settle a score, Hughes skillfully pulls the lethal strings in this cat-and-mouse game with lyrical and hardboiled prose.

Spoiler: no one wins. I take that back—the reader does. Hughes’ superb sense of setting and character-driven narrative fuse into a taut yet somehow lovely story about loyalty and revenge.

Like IN A LONELY PLACE, RIDE THE PINK HORSE was adapted into a beloved film noir. Starring Robert Montgomery, the picture evokes Orson Welles’ later film TOUCH OF EVIL, both set on the border and exploring themes of betrayal and corruption. Both films feature the acclaimed cinematographer Russell Metty.

Hughes went on to write THE EXPENDABLE MAN, her final crowning achievement, with a poignant twist that continues to resonate today.