On the state stud-farm, Tomáš is preparing to become a jockey together with other boys. He loves to read cowboy stories and Western pulp magazines and his passion makes him a laughing-stock of his friends and pretty Věra, couch Mikota's daughter. Tomáš looks for refuge with ageing jockey Kosina and listens in admiration to his tales of old jockey glory. He doesn't suspect that Kosina had to leave the racecourse because of fraud and that he is still looking for ways to get easy money. The boys and Věra decide to heal Tomáš of his ravings about the Wild West. Dressed up as cowboys and with fake guns, they attack Tomáš in a gorge. Tomáš manages to escape. Running away, he discovers the lifeless body of accountant Šulc who was bringing in the wages. Two anonymous men used the fuss around the "attack" to steal the bag of money from the accountant and to kill him. The sad event opens Tomáš's eyes. He begins to be suspicious of Kosina and starts following him. From a hide-out he witnesses a quarrel between Kosina and his accomplice about the booty. The accomplice finally shoots Kosina dead. Riding on his horse, Tomáš follows the murderer, waiter Vaníček, takes the bag from him and helps with his arrest.
The film was shot on both a wide-screen gauge (1:2.35) and a standard gauge (1:1.37) film format.
jezdec Tomáš Bouček
bývalý žokej Fritz Kosina
ředitel hřebčína MVDr. Křepelka
trenér Alois Mikota
Věra, Mikotova dcera
číšník Vaníček
účetní Jan Šulc
nadporučík SNB Hejzlar
holič Ríša
Pilc, bývalý bookmaker
Voice by Stanislav Fišer
Franta
Pepík Král
Jirka
Bohuš
Honza
Mikotová
příslušník SNB Hála
příslušník SNB
Vladimír Řezníček, Jaroslav Kupšík
František Michálek (jezdectví), František Zábrodský
Karel Brož (vrchní osvětlovač), Jiří Širc (fotograf), Výzkumná stanice pro chov koní Slatiňany, Správa hřebčína na Muráni
FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)
Song Composer Evžen Illín
Writer of Lyrics Zdeněk Borovec
Singer smíšený sbor
Smrt v sedle
Smrt v sedle
Death in the Saddle
film
featuretheatrical distribution
adventure
Czechoslovakia
1958
1958
literary Screenplay approved 12 June 1957
technical Screenplay approved 20 February 1958
start of filming 28 March 1958
end of filming 4 October 1958
projection approval 17 February 1959
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1992
premiere 27 March 1959 /suitable for youths/ (kina Světozor /9 týdnů/, Veletrhy /2 týdny od 10. 4./, Svornost /1 týden od 24. 4./ a Květen /2 týdny od 1. 5./, Praha)
Tvůrčí skupina Šebor – Bor, Vladimír Bor (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Jiří Šebor (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)
feature film
81 min
2 300 meters
16mm, 35mm
1:1,37, 1:2,35
colour
sound
mono, stereo
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech