The Renegade Ranger

Texas Ranger Jack Steele is assigned to bring in former ranch owner Judith Alvarez, now the leader of a gang who is waging war against the crooked government official who cheated the ranchers out of their land. Steele is determined to bring her in as she still breaking the law, though deep down he knows she's in the right, but Larry, an ex-Ranger, who is part of Judith's gang, is trying persuade him not to hand her in to the authorities as the law is ruled by the crooked official.

George O' Brien stars in the renegade Ranger, a decent western with the usual well-tread formula, but the fast-pace, a striking Rita Hayworth and Tim Holt who oozes charisma and a well-structured plot keep it interesting.

This pretty good RKO B western stars George O'Brien, whose career, which was going pretty hot in silent days, wound up in this series of solid B westerns for RKO. After he retired in 1940, his mantle was picked up by Tim Holt. The entire series is entertaining, even if there are usually some flaws -- in this one, there is a lot of trouble matching lighting from one shot to the next.

But the story is pretty good: it's a Reconstruction story, about how the ruthless carpetbagger is stealing old property through spurious tax claims. In this case, it's old Spanish Land Grant owners, in the person of Rita Hayworth, newly delatinized in appearance but still playing Hispanics.

Tim Holt is still learning his craft here and he's pretty stiff and callow seeming. He rarely got a chance to show his real ability and spent a long, happy career in B westerns, although he occasionally poked his head up, most notably as the junior gold prospector in THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE.

The rest of the movie is fun for looking at veteran talent: Neal Hart and Tom London in front of the camera, Oliver Drake in a scripting credit. All in all, a pleasant way to spend an hour, especially for fan of Hollywood westerns.

This is a film basically about crooked land trickery in the old west, specifically Texas in this case. Such activities historically were well documented for a time along the Rio Grande on the far south Texas border rather than so specifically the Pecos River area of Texas which was mostly just empty desert, but do form a footnote in the five hundred year history of the Spanish Colonial New World and its later ex-colonies the Republic of Mexico and Republic of Texas (later to merge into the U.S. and become a State). The colorful border atmosphere is somewhat captured in this otherwise routine western movie.

Established star and real-life American hero George O'Brien is strong in the lead role and young buck Tim Holt is an unpredictable and mercurial kid Ranger and they are both fine in their roles, ordinary as the roles may be. Veteran actors do good work in support.

But now the reason for my review of this movie: stunning young Rita Hayworth. Her beauty and screen presence jump off the screen. She has obviously got "it". Her acting is forceful and her wardrobe ranges from pretty dresses to riding clothes that do not (or cannot) constrain certain parts of her upper torso. As a side note, I could mention that she does an impressive amount of her own horsemanship in this film. And if I was a rider in her vigilante justice group I would surely follow her to hell and back. Hayworth is a young actress giving a good performance here that sets her up for the launch of her soon to be mega-stardom, and deservedly so.

OK, its only an ordinary b-western. But the film's three starring performers elevate it well above what it otherwise would be.

A story of the texas rangers, with western regulars george o'brien and tim holt. Twenty year old hayworth, in one of her first roles as rita hayworth; she was billed as rita cansino in most of her earlier roles. She is probably best known for "gilda". (how was she not even nominated for that role? Maybe because she was such a bad girl.) here, the rangers need to round up judith alvarez, even though she claims she was only defending her own property against a land grab. What is the truth? Who can she trust? Can she get fair treatment from the texas rangers? It's a typical western. Mostly talk for the first half of the one hour shortie. Then we head out on the horses. Even a couple of songs thrown in. It's not bad. Pretty mellow, no big surprises, but it's okay. Fun to see young miss hayworth so early on. Directed by david howard. He died young at age 45, just three years after this film!

Renegade Ranger, The (1938)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

A couple Texas Rangers (George O'Brien/Tim Holt) are hired to bring in a ranch owner (Rita Hayworth) who is raging a battle against the government over land stolen from ranchers. She's painted as a murderer but really she's just acting as a Robin Hood type. Even at 60-minutes this RKO Western is deadly dull without any excitement. There are your typical fist fights and shoot outs but all of them are deadly dry as is the relationship between O'Brien and Hayworth. The only saving grace is Holt in his supporting role and Hayworth is somewhat interesting.