The Untamed Breed

Saw this at my local theater as a six year old during its initial run in early 1947. Just saw it for the first time in over 70 yrs. Brought back pleasant memories. Gentle, entertaining movie with a first-class cast.

The Texas wrangler delivers a huge Brahma bull to the Pecos valley. All the citizens there have a financial interest in the beast.

This is one mean, vicious, savage, ornery bull. The Texas wrangler also encounters three idiot brothers and a very manipulative woman.

Gabby Hayes provides the comic relief.

This is an enjoyable and somewhat unique western.

Roger Moncrief

Easy-going Western, not to be taken too seriously (catch the amusing barroom brawl). Even the bad guys aren't really bad, more ornery than anything else. In fact the real bad guy is a rampaging brahma bull, too strong to catch. (Why don't they use some female cows to corral him.)

Anyway, Tufts makes a pleasant good guy who brings the breeding bull to Pecos Valley to improve the stock. Trouble is the rogue bovine gets loose and runs wild. Worse for Wrangler (Tufts), the ornery Keegan brothers resent him, especially after lovely Cherry (Britton) prefers him to Larch Keegan (Bishop).

Great Lone Pine scenery with snowy Sierras in the background. One notable feature —Gabby Hayes figures into the plot as a kind of bad guy (!), at the same time, he manages some of his usual gruff comedy relief. All in all, the movie's a rather pleasant, offbeat little Western, better than I expected.

(In passing—one reason I watched was to catch the legendary Sonny Tufts as a cowboy, of all things. Actually, he does well enough, keeping basically within his nice-guy range. Check out his bio and discussion to find out why his name became something of a joke for many years.)