Harlem Rides the Range

Herb Jeffrey and his sidekick Dusty come upon a house in time to see some men disappearing in the distance and a possible crime scene within. It seems the men shot the owner in order to steal his radium mine, after which Herb and Dusty inadvertently take jobs working at the villain's ranch.

A typical Saturday matinée western, this time with an all-black cast, Harlem Rides The Range is entertaining enough, with a likable performance by Jeffrey and an amiable cast, as well as some witty dialog and a few good gags.

The music by Jeffrey and The Four Tones is an excellent, credible mix of old-fashioned cowboy singing and 1930's style rhythm and blues/jazz. It alone is more than enough to make this worth watching.

Although not as well-known as Jeffrey's earlier picture The Bronze Buckaroo, it's actually a lot better and a great deal more cohesive in terms of plot.

Like most B picture westerns of the 30's and early 40's this film is slow beyond belief. For example, they spend maybe 2.5 minutes on a bad joke about dog food. The acting is rather bad as well.

And then there's the studio shot scenes with obvious painted backgrounds of the west. At the end of the day this is nothing more than a B picture.

The print I saw was really bad -- like it was a complete shade of grey and the sound was muffled. Can't imagine that's what it was like back in the day, but then who knows?

And one more thing. How is this so historical? It's a movie that was made for blacks like Shaft in the 70's or those dumb Madea movies. Should we say that the non all black cast movies of the same time period are historical because they were made for white people?

Wonder what would have happened if a white guy went into a black theatre back then to see this.

Having just watched The Bronze Buckaroo, I picked the next film on the "Black Westerns" disc of the DVD set "Black Entertainment in Film" which happened to be Harlem Rides the Range. Once again Herb Jeffries stars as Bob Blake with Lucius Brooks as sidekick Dusty and Clarence Brooks in a villainous role. Spencer Williams, however, is on the good side this time as Blake's ranch-hand boss and previously female lead Artie Young is just a picture here until the last 10 min. Also F. E. Miller appears again as Slim Perkins who with Lucius provides some amusing comic relief that in a white cast movie might have been considered racist. I actually thought Harlem Rides the Range might have been slightly duller than The Bronz Buckaroo but at least this time the print was good and the soundtrack was clear so I could actually hear the dialogue well and the singing was more enjoyable as a result which was provided by Mr. Jeffries and The Four Tones of which Lucius is a member. P. S. Another player, Wade Dumas who was the Dog City Sheriff, came from my home state of Louisiana in addition to Mr. Williams. Also, Mr. Williams and Mr. Miller wrote the screenplay this time.

Immediately noticeable in the opening credits was the name Spencer Williams, Jr. This should have been a guarantee of good quality, but Mr. Williams' acting skill was not matched by much of the cast nor was his screenplay as good as it could have been. The premise of the story was standard, and the dialog was at times too simple as if it had been written quickly with intent to fix it later. Some scenes had clever or natural spoken parts along with attempted humor that was consistent with other B westerns. Too often the actors spoke far too simple lines with far too long pauses between lines. Too bad.

Talent as a singer, rodeo champion, or athlete does not always qualify one to attempt acting as many movie cowboys had done. Often it was acceptable as a matter of authentication for the real cowboy to make it as a western movie actor. The same leniency is afforded to singers who make the leap into acting. Herb Jeffries and the Four Tones were definitely capable singers. Acting was not their forte. Sadly, the same is true for much of the cast. Herb Jeffries looked good as he filled the cowboy suit, and his acting was no worse than early Gene Autry entries into motion pictures. Maybe it was a little worse, but it worked for a cowboy movie. As the faithful sidekick, Dusty, Lucius Brooks had a likable presence that paralleled many sidekick performers. Perhaps if there had been more acting opportunities he could have become a better actor.

Musically, this movie had three song performances including the opening credits. It fit the feel of western music while the Four Tones added an Ink Spots style. Mr. Jeffries singing voice put him among the better cowboy singers. Had he wanted to continue to build a larger repertoire in the western music field he would be admired for that work today. We are all lucky that he left movies to work with Duke Ellington.

As Bob Blake, Jeffries is the hero of Harlem Rides The Range while the actual heroism is shared between Blake and Cactus (John Thomas). Blake is the singing cowboy dressed better than everyone else as he investigates a possible crime and pursues the only girl in the movie. Cactus is the vigilant ranch hand who ultimately delivers justice with a gun. While Blake plays the happy cowboy, Cactus plays the determined man of righteous pursuit. Had the two characters been combined the viewer would have seen a character closer to Hopalong Cassidy or Buck Jones.

As a B western, Harlem Rides The Range is an average movie. It is enjoyable, just not outstanding.

Spencer William plays the character of Watson in this movie, but his name didn't mean anything to me. After seeing him in the movie I thought I recognized him from another role that greatly endeared him to me. Checking here at IMDb I wasn't surprised to see that he was none other than Andrew H. Brown, pal to and often the accomplice of George "Kingfish" Stevens of the old Amos 'n' Andy TV series.