Ride a Pink Horse 1947 - opinions anyone ?

Ride a Pink Horse (1947) should have been a "great movie". There are plenty of IMDB reviewers who think it's a 10/10 or 9/10 movie ... as well as a few party-poopers who rate it 4/10 or 5/10. Leonard Maltin rates it 3.5 out of 4 stars. And the print that I saw came from Criterion ... so it must be good. Right ? Anyway, it's not just some B movie second feature that you can forgive its faults because of budget limitations.

The movie stars Robert Montgomery (who also directed it) as a WWII veteran who arrives in a border town during Fiesta time. He's going after the mobster who ordered the killing of one of his army buddies. Just before he died, his buddy gave him something to blackmail the mobster with. Along the way he meet a Mexican girl (Wanda Hendrix) who keeps following him around. It turns out that she had a premonition of seeing him dead. He also has a run in with a Federal agent (Art Smith) who is after that same "bad guy" (villainous Fred Clark before he became pigeon-holed as a comedy actor). Thomas Gomez and Andrea King also feature.

Call me old-fashioned but a hero who is also a blackmailer ? I'm not sure I can fully accept that. OK, horrible things do happen to him and to the people he befriends. So being the hero is a relative thing. The movie could have ended any number of different ways. I wouldn't have been surprised by any of them.

I haven't viewed this film in almost four years but I remember really enjoying it.  It's a well-regarded noir.  And the Criterion restoration is excellent.

It normally sports a 7+ rating on IMDb and Keaney gave it a high 4 out of 5.

As far as the hero being a blackmailer, that's nothing unusual for American films where shortcomings are generally overlooked for "sufficient cause".  Not saying I agree with that, just that it occurs.

I agree that there are numerous possibilities in terms of endings.

I though Thomas Gomez's performance was especially good.

Bruce R