Pardon My Gun

Pardon My Gun is an example of how not to make a movie. Thinking about it in the context of 1930, the singing cowboy in movies was still developing, but the proper way to make a movie had been figured out for years. This movie was wrong in every way.

There is supposed to be a plot, but it is pushed aside for what would normally be filler. There is supposed to be a hero and a heroine, but they are pushed aside for what would normally be filler. Let me explain...

The plot is supposed to be about Ted Duncan (Tom Keene) saving Mary Martin (Sally Starr) from having to marry the villain, Cooper (Harry Woods), to settle her father's gambling debts. That is simple enough. The problem is that if I were to use a stopwatch to log the time Tom Keene is on screen it would probably total less than five minutes out of the hour long film. Heroines usually have little screen time, but Sally Starr could have filmed all of her dialogue in half an hour including set changes.

Pardon My Gun starts off kind of slow then works to a dead stop. The scene where Peggy (Mona Ray) arrives never seems to end. Peggy is a 20's flapper who would normally be out of place in a western, but this was hardly a western. The characters keep talking to one another, but nothing is said that pushes the story along. Watching Lightnin' (Stompie) talk to his frog, Fuzzy, over and over does nothing for the plot. The big barn dance scene takes a great deal of time with music, dance, and comedy performances. The redeeming value to the scene is that it gives a glimpse of what vaudeville acts were like. For what it was, it should have been left for film shorts rather than part of what should have been a movie. As much as we would like to have the hero on screen all the time, those scenes with playful interaction among the minor characters can add to the charm of the movie. In this case that is all there is! The charm wore off immediately.

Yes, there is an exciting horse race, a fight scene, some shots, and some cowboy hats. It would have been nice to have more than a few minutes of western action. The MacFarlane brothers apparently worked the rodeos because they did roping and singing for this movie in flashy western outfits. They are the closest thing to the wild west of anyone in the cast. Abe Lyman was popular on radio in the 1930's. Seeing his band in cowboy outfits is fun, but hardly western in the context of music for cowboy movies.

I have seen silent movies with much more cohesive stories than Pardon My Gun. I have seen early Bob Steele and Ken Maynard films with much more heroic action. There were better films made before, during, and of course, after the time Pardon My Gun was made. I am certain that movie-goers of 1930 felt the same way.

"Fuzzy" as a name for a frog was funny, and was pretty darned clever, especially in a movie the "humor" of which was dismal. (Remember the dragon in Harry Potter named "Fluffy"?)

And perhaps the movie seems even worse than it really is because the print is miserable. At least the one I saw at YouTube is.

One rather funny scene was an almost direct steal from a Buster Keaton movie, and of course was much better done there, but here it still was cute.

And the next scene, when Ted kisses the diminutive Peggy, why it alone is almost worth the price of admission. Excellent. (Tom Keene, as I keep saying, is a very likable guy, even when he's named George Duryea.)

Although, I did write too soon: "Peggy" over-acted her response.

And the next bit of "humor," with a very good dancer, when she got to dancing, was just awful. It is the kind of stuff the previous reviewers were so negative about. With good reason.

Then "Peggy" sings. And does she make up for the silly bit earlier. Mona Ray is hardly a cowboy singer, but she is one heck of a night-club vocalist. She should have been in dozens of movies.

She's backed up by a pretty good band, the Abe Lyman Orchestra -- actually a VERY good band -- and, yes, all the musical numbers make this much more of a musical than a western, but let's judge it for what it is, an early musical in a sort-of western setting. Maybe a Western Swing setting.

There is more western-ness in some excellent rope tricks by the McFarlane brothers, who also impressed me with some equally excellent trick riding.

When we get to the denouement, we arrive with almost no violence, despite some villainy by the great Harry Woods, who had not yet achieved his plane as a fine actor.

Seriously, this is much better than most of those other reviews would lead you to believe. I suggest you relax and enjoy it for what it is, a rodeo-trick-riding-musical with a little western adventure and villainy thrown in.

The performers are generally very capable, even though the writers and director didn't give them much help.

Remember it's 1930, and sound movies were still young. Remember context, and I think you will actually enjoy the excellently titled "Pardon My Gun," even though there is not a gun, either.