O Cowboy de Hollywood

The story has some unusual twists including Kramer, a white-collar criminal who plots to exploit a feud between cattlehands and cattlemen plus fleece cattlemen of money through a dummy Cattlemen's Protection Association.

George O'Brien plays Geoffrey Carter, a Hollywood cowboy shooting a western film at Lone Pine, CA. He just happens to rescue Joyce, a cattlewoman's daughter from the city gangsters and falls for her. Then he goes to work for her mother as an anonymous cattlehand.

The most interesting plot element is the use of a single-engine, dual wing biplane to frighten cattle and then a subsequent air dual with an aircraft from Hollywood flown by Carter's friend.

Final roundup of the criminals has a nice twist but the ending is standard Hollywood schmaltz. There are some holes in the story never resolved. But nothing out the ordinary for a 1937 RKO Radio Picture.

George O'Brien is adequate but the supporting cast never have opportunities to rise above predictable or pedestrian, which is simply a fault of the script. However, this is a 64 minute, low-budget B-western, so there was little time or reason to worry about character development. This is a rare film and not many prints exist either as Hollywood Cowboy or Wings Over Wyoming. Showcase Media of Studio City California 91604 has one, good, complete 16mm dupe print.

"Hollywood Cowboy," as this film is now known, has a special charm about it because it stands on a fairly unusual platform for being, which is that the characters are assembled here owing to western movie making, of all things. This is a contemporary western, that is to say the wild west comes alive in the year of roughly 1937, and plenty of cars and even airplanes are on hand. As with many George O'Brien B-westerns, there is a more gentle air about this movie than many of its brethren, with the gun play and horse-mounted action hovering at a fair minimum. George O'Brien does a good job of portraying his part with subtle humor throughout, and it is a pleasure to have a fairly well-known actress of the era (Cecilia Parker) play the leading lady. In general, however, the acting in the film is only standard and there is little evidence of sets or cinematography beyond the ordinary. The final defining scene was surprising for B-westerns, it must be granted, but not really impressively staged beyond expectations. So all in all, if you have time to take a look at a fairly good B-western built on an unusual foundation and containing a different kind of final roundup, go ahead and take a look.

"Hollywood Cowboy" is also listed at YouTube as "Wings over Wyoming," and you can find it under either or both titles. But if you look, I'm afraid you won't find a very good print.

Which is a shame. I might have given it a 10 if I could have seen it in one piece, without the dark picture, without the breaks and pops and jumps, and without the hiss on the sound track.

It has a crackerjack cast, starring the very good-looking and extremely capable George O'Brien, with the beautiful and also talented Cecilia Parker.

Hers was another Hollywood story of a beautiful talent who apparently crossed the studio bosses, because she obviously had the looks and ability to have become a star.

"Wings over Wyoming" is as good a title as "Hollywood Cowboy" because all those words figure in the story, well co-written by Dan Jarrett and director Ewing Scott, who was helped in the directing by the great George Sherman, who helmed many a Western movie.

It is a slightly involved story, with bunches of characters including city-slicker gangsters trying to transfer their skulduggery to the ranges of, yes, Wyoming.

There have been other efforts with a similar premise, but none better than this one.

I highly recommend this, for cast, scenery (actually California), and good story. I just hope you find a better print.

George O'Brien and writer Joe Caits are vacationing in Wyoming between pictures. O'Brien spots Cecilia Parker, and decides to hire on at the ranch of her aunt, Maude Eburne. Meanwhile Charles Middleton is setting up a protection racket for cattle.

O'Brien is funny in a smug way as Miss Parker's would-be lover, Frank Milan, tries to high-hat the confident O'Brien to no avail. It's the third of four movies that O'Brien starred in for producer George Hirliman in an effort to get away from simple-minded oaters, and pretty good; even when the plot starts up, there are lots of airplanes flying around to let you know this isn't one of those.

In Hollywood Cowboy George O'Brien plays a B western star a whole lot like George O'Brien who after shooting a picture on location decides to take a camping trip with script writer and buddy Joe Caits. Though Caits is a city boy he'd like to get as far into the forest primeval as possible as he's ducking a subpoena.

Somebody else has left the big city as well, one Charles Middleton whom we all know as Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon has also moved west and is establishing an old fashioned protection racket involving cattle rustling. He tries to move in on owner Maude Eburne, but she's a tough old bird.

O'Brien gets involved when he saves Eburne's niece Cecilia Parker from some of Middleton's men and O'Brien also starts some moving in on his own.

Nothing too terribly complex about the part, a story that's been unaccountable times in Hollywood. But O'Brien does this one with tongue firmly in cheek. It's almost like he was setting a mold for James Garner to follow in the future.

I think some non-western fans will like this one.