Cross Fire

When the opening credits rolled over some surprisingly jazzy music, I was ready for something different, and I got it.

The setting for this relatively modern Western is during and just after The Great War, World War I.

The jazzy music, supposedly stock music selected by Max Steiner (a superior composer himself), did fit, it turned out, but it was decidedly non-Western, although bouncy and enjoyable.

The cast members, even the star, Tom Keene, are mostly not too well known today, were nonetheless excellent, even the most minor characters.

The script is very intelligent.

The only remotely reasonable complaint is that, for a Western, there is surprisingly little expected action: few fistfights, few gunshots. Even the runaway horse -- sometimes seen as mandatory for a Western -- is non-clichéd.

I recorded this because it came on TCM at an awkward time, and I've decided to save it to see again in the relatively near future. I not only enjoyed it, I was amazed and impressed by it.

A really high-quality movie, it is one I hope others will watch and enjoy as much as I did.

This is the reason I watch TCM - you won't run across little gems like this anywhere else. This low budget western does something other films of the early 30's that are going into the past of 10 or 15 years before seldom do - pay attention to getting the art design and costumes right for the times. That's particularly important here because this story is one of the west in transition - starting in about 1917 and ending about 1920. World War I has begun and Tom (Tom Keene) is getting ready to leave his job in the gold mine and ship off with the army. As he rides into town to say goodbye we see a place in transition - horses share the streets with autos, there's a stop sign and a traffic cop, and even a sign that cautions people to drive slowly.

While Tom is away everything runs amok. There's an embezzler that has wormed himself into the partnership that runs the mine. He thinks he's safe because he believes he's dealing with a bunch of clueless old yokels. However, the town bank president figures this guy out and makes the unfortunate decision to tell him so when the two are alone. The embezzler shoots him dead to keep him from talking. Now this embezzler is a lucky guy. The banker had pen in hand when he was shot and had just written out the name of Daniel Plummer on a piece of paper - that had to do with some business the two were transacting. The embezzler lies and says he heard Daniel and the banker arguing and it looks like the banker was writing the name of his murderer on the piece of paper. Pop Plummer is arrested for murder. Now the three older surviving partners know Pop is innocent and haven't quite figured out that law and order have now begun to overtake the west. These energetic 50-something pioneers that tamed a wilderness together figure out a novel plan - they'll bust Pop out of jail, hide out in the hills that they know so well, and rob the car taking the gold from the mine occasionally to extract their share of the mining profits. They even leave signed receipts behind with the drivers they robbed saying that's what they're doing.

Meanwhile Tom returns from war and is hired as a deputy to bring "the silver four" in for a trial and promised by the sheriff that the trial will be fair. Tom finds them and talks them into returning with him. No handcuffs are necessary. However there is one big hitch - the embezzler is also the mayor and fires the honest sheriff, replacing him with one of his henchmen. Since the honest judge is one of the gang in jail, the judge on the bench is also eating out of the embezzler's hand. Can Tom figure out a way to straighten this mess out when the current legal machinery of his town is filled with corruption? Watch and find out.

This film is a hoot from beginning to end with plenty of action and a mix of old and new. For example there's a fighting match right out of a WB James Cagney picture inserted into the plot. There's the humorous Edgar Kennedy returning with Tom from war. He's used to a more urban environment so he starts a taxi cab company in the town. Pop Plummer's daughter starts up an open-air lunch counter like you'd find in New York City. The older guys all wear traditional western garb but the younger fellows may wear western clothes or they may wear a more modern suit when in town. Finally the big finale involves a shoot-out with gangsters imported from the big city and even a machine gun right out of prohibition.

I'd highly recommend this one to anyone, even if you're not a big western fan. This is not your typical early talkie western with an "aw shucks" lone hero all dressed in white that spends his spare time strumming a guitar and singing to his horse under the stars.

For the historic minded, Cross Fire is filled with all kinds of topical references indicating the time.

Young Tom Keene goes off to World War I and when he returns finds things have changed in his home in the west. The five old timers who raised him is now four. The mine they had is systematically being looted of its assets and strangers are in charge of law and order. Foreign elements from the east have moved in and they have a machine gun.

Fortunately Keene faced those in France. Together with sidekick Edgar Kennedy whom he picked up there when they were doughboys the bad guys are of course routed and Keene gets the heroine Betty Furness.

Rather dull western with an appeal toward jingo type patriotism. Today's Trump worshipers would love it.

It takes about 20 minutes for Tom Keene to win the First World War, even with Edgar Kennedy driving his taxi into a ditch. After that, it's back to King City, where Betty Furness has grown up to be his leading lady. That's not the only change in town. The mine his father and friends developed to build the town are up in the hills, raiding the mine shipments, while Tom's former assistant, Eddie Phillips, has stolen the mine and the town.

It's a highly amusing RKO modern western, directed by the under-rated Otto Brower, full of Nick Musuraa's fine camerawork, machine guns and expert clowning by Kennedy. I particularly like the boxing match he's holding to distract the town while Tom is breaking his old partners out of jail. He knocks out his opponent with one punch and then has to hold him up for the rest of the fight!

This was a very dull movie with nothing very memorable about it. This just seemed like another film made for money and without much effort put into it.

None of the characters were interesting. The hero wasn't very cool or bad*ss. But worst of all, all the actors were incredibly wooden. People were treating things like murder like a minor annoyance.

The story was probably interesting, but I had a tough time following it. There was one scene where one character was being chased by a group of other people on horses, and it was probably supposed to be suspenseful and excited, but it just ended up being boring. There was also a very boring but brief gunfight near the end. The rest was just very boring characters talking to each other.

But it wasn't completely horrible. There was some interesting cinematography in it. And there was an intentionally funny boxing match. But overall, it was very forgettable and not worth watching.