El hijo de la pradera

Veteran Western film actor William S. Hart was looking for just one more chance to be in a movie. A couple (1915-1916) of the 11 years he appeared in front of the camera, theater owners voted him their biggest money-making star. His schtick was playing the prototype quiet Westerner who dressed plainly. In all of his films his characters went from mostly a bad-behaving gunslinger or ruffian to become the ultimate moralistic hero. But the public wanted flashier cowboys, such as popular Tom Mix, and more action sequences than contained in a typical character-driven Hart film.

His employer, Paramount Pictures, in 1924 elected not to renew his contract, leaving Hart unemployed at age 60. The actor wanted to ride off into the sunset for one last movie. He dug deep into his wallet and produced his final film, one that critics agree was his best one in a relatively long career, December 1925's "Tumbleweeds." Hart hired scriptwriter Hal Evarts to wrap his story around the 1893 Oklahoma land rush and King Baggot to direct.

Hart intended "Tumbleweeds" as his last hurrah with several references within the script that the Old West is gone since the Oklahoma homesteaders were replacing the cowboys he had been portraying on screen. Hart plays the foreman of a big cattle ranch. The United States government during the early 1890s had ordered all large cattle herds to leave the prairie to be replaced by the new settlers who primarily farmed. Likening himself to a tumbleweed, a plant with no roots, he witnesses other herds leaving and says, "Boys, it's the end of the West." Even women can't cox him into settling down as Hart makes the remarkable statement towards the movie's conclusion that "Women ain't reliable-cows are." Carver (Hart) says he's "headed for South America where there's millions of 'em."

Embedded within the high-budgeted $312,000 film, an immense expense in those days for one person to finance, is a specular land rush scene involving almost 1,000 extras, 300 wagons and a number of horses hired to replicate the scene. The 1931 epic "Cimarron," the Academy Awards Best Picture winner that year, copied Hart's chaotic stampede of homesteaders racing to secure the best land they could stake their claim on.

Hart was able to contract United Artists to distribute "Tumbleweeds." But the actor was disappointed, despite the rave reviews the movie was receiving, because the studio didn't place the film into the larger city venues. He sued UA for such a lack of distribution, but settled out of court in 1940. A year before that, on the heels of John Ford's 1938 "Stagecoach," which rejuvenated the Western genre, Hart was asked to provide a prologue to the re-issuance of "Tumbleweeds" with a soundtrack. The 75-year-old retired actor, now a ranch owner in Newhall, California, gave an eight-minute introduction, with his last words, "The saddle is empty, the boys up ahead are calling, they're waiting for you and me to help drive this last great round-up into eternity." Hart rode into his final sunset in June 1946 at 81 years of age at his ranch. The silent Western movie star is buried near his birthplace in Brooklyn, N. Y.'s Green-Wood Cemetery.

Just from reading about him, I became a fan of William S. Hart before I ever saw one of his movies.

When I moved to Los Angeles, I made a pilgrimage to the late lamented Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax, not only to see whatever silent films there might be available, but to plead for a chance to see any Hart film, and especially "Tumbleweeds," about which I had read so much.

Alas, the Hamptons, owners of the Theatre, never did show it, but I was able to rent a 16 mm print and show it myself, in my tiny living room.

It was all I had hoped. It was, and is, magnificent.

Character development was nigh onto perfect, and the intertitles by C. Gardner Sullivan, surely one of the greatest of such writers, merely enhanced the beauty of the presentation.

Oh, but there is more: Camera angles were brilliantly formatted. Only later did I learn that Mr. Hart himself was co-director.

William S. Hart (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0366586/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1) was born a city slicker but, like me, I guess, he fell in love with the West and its mystique. He wanted to share that love with everyone, and for too few years presented the mythology.

You can find his spoken farewell at YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BlgWP3Airs), and if you're really lucky you will find a copy of "Tumbleweeds" with that farewell used as a prologue. It still moves me to tears.

One reason I cry is that, listening to him, I think how great a talkie actor he could have been, with that voice; and I think what a loss to those of us who love Westerns generally and who love William S. Hart in particular.

"Tumbleweeds" is a classic, regardless of genre.

It is poetry on film, a magnificent motion picture.

"Tumbleweeds" is a classic of the silent era. It marked the final film in the career of western movie pioneer William S. Hart.

The plot revolves around the Cherokee Land Rush of 1889 Oklahoma where a large tract of land was thrown open to the public for the taking by the American government.

Don Carver (Hart) and his pal Kentucky Rose (Lucien Littlefield) had been earning their living as "tumbleweeds", another name for drifting cowpokes. When the last roundup is completed, they decide to take part in the land rush. Carver meets up with the charming Molly Lassiter (Barbara Bedford) after having had an altercation with her half brother Noll (J. Gordon Russell). Noll teams up with Bill Freel (Richard R. Neill) to acquire a choice ranch section by any means necessary. Turns out that Carver has his sights set on the same ranch which he wants to get for Molly.

The highlight of the film is of course, the land rush sequence. It is marvelously staged by Directors King Baggot and Hart himself. A cast of thousands was employed. A remarkable piece of film making for this or any other time.

The version of the film that is usually shown these days is the 1939 re-issue which had sound effects added, as well as a moving prologue filmed especially for this version. It features Hart coming out of retirement and describing the film and then talking about his career and in effect saying goodbye to all of his fans. He had left films after "Tumbleweeds" following a dispute with the film's distributor.

Hart had always insisted on realism in his films. This had worked in his early films but in the 20s, he had to compete with the more popular films of the flamboyant Tom Mix. He had reached his 60s by this time so he wisely decided to go out on top.

Ohh...the thrill of it all!

In 1925 when TUMBLEWEEDS was released, William S. Hart was 60 years old and been had supplanted at the box office by a host of cowboy stars like Tom Mix who were much flashier and far less realistic. Hart wanted to go out on top and that is just what he did. TUMBLEWEEDS is set in 1893 during the opening of the Cherokee Strip and his recreation of the mad scramble for the newly opened up Indian lands is a landmark in cinema history which has been copied many times but without the same sense of immediacy that is depicted here.

All the elements of earlier Hart westerns are here, the shy hero, the woman in distress, the 19th century code of honor (Hart was born in 1865), rugged action sequences involving Hart and above all the rugged natural locations of a now vanished West. The production values are high, the photography splendid, and the supporting cast top notch especially Barbara Bedford as Hart's love interest Molly. Bedford played strong independent women during her brief career most notably in the 1920 LAST OF THE MOHICANS.

This new DVD release is an enhanced copy of the old Killiam Collection VHS version that has been around for a while but it has never looked this good. Also included is the 1939 eight minute prologue that Hart did for the film's reissue. Hart was 74 by this time and his recounting of the making of his films and the Old West that he knew is not only informative but also quite poignant. This film is his lasting legacy, a legacy that stretches from Gary Cooper to Clint Eastwood, and it's great to have it on DVD at last...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

Seen in a 16mm print from the 1939 release (not necessarily the 1975 restoration listed by imdb), the sheer sincerity of the film-makers appealed highly. Intelligent art-gallery audience loved it - shown on 40th anni of Hart's death. Sound was coarse (expected) but loud and consistent in quality with image