Pena de Talião

This movie starts with a horse named Duke coming to the rescue of a man being bushwhacked. The man is cracked over the head and killed, so one of the robbers claims the horse went mad and attacked them. So the horse is put on trial for murder. I'm not kidding -- the horse is brought to town and put on trial in front of the whole town! Before he's sentenced to death, a cowboy (John Wayne) shows up and offers to ride the horse to prove he's not wild. After he does and saves Duke, the horse's owner (great character actor Henry B. Walthall) asks Wayne to help the town catch a masked bandit named the Hawk. The first of six B westerns Wayne made for WB in the early '30s. He was named John something-or-other in every movie and always had his horse Duke. They're routine westerns. Forgettable but watchable.

An American Action, Western; A story about a Texan cowboy who rides into an Arizona town, rescues a horse, and winds up being blamed for a recent spate of barn-burnings, a crime he did not commit. This 'B' movie is a remake of the 1926 silent film Cavaleiro Incógnito (1926) and based on a 1923 novel by Kenneth Perkins. This light-humoured film has its stock characters and a well-worn story about a man falsely accused. There is a satirical aspect too, about frontier justice, the rush to judgement in trial when logic suggests otherwise, and a prominent citizen who turns out to be a wrong 'un. Duke the clever horse steals the show in some instances. John Wayne fits his part nicely as the young stranger who can goof with the rest of them but has the fortitude to bring miscreants to justice.

Ride Him, Cowboy (1932)

*** (out of 4)

Duke, a horse, is on trial for killing a man and the judge is about to put him to death when cowboy John Drury (John Wayne) makes a deal. If Drury can tame the horse then it can live. Of course the cowboy comes through and soon the two of them are trying to track down the real murderer.

RIDE HIM, COWBOY was Wayne's shot at stardom as this was the first of the six picture deal that he signed with Warner. The film is certainly a step up from movies like TWO FISTED LAW, which featured Wayne in supporting parts. On a technical level this might still be a "B" movie but it's still better than what we had seen the now legend in up to this point.

The best thing about the picture is actually Wayne and his supporting cast of actors. I thought that laid back approach of Wayne's worked pretty well here including the scenes where he trying to smooth talk the leading lady played by Ruth Hall. Wayne and Hall share some nice chemistry together. Frank Hagney does a good job in his role of the villain and Henry B. Walthall turns in another fine supporting performance.

As you'd expect, there's a lot of gun play as well as other Western trappings but they're all handled quite nicely by director Fred Allen who keeps the film moving at a nice pace throughout its 55 minutes.

I figured this would be a very dated, corny and dumb B-cowboy movie, but was wrong. It was a very interesting short film that was done very well.

It had action, comedy, romance and suspense all packed into a movie less that lasted only 55 minutes. It had a convincing nasty villain, a pretty girl, a talented horse named "Duke," and a crooked-but-funny judge. The horse was able to untie rope and acted almost human.

The only thing that looked a bit dated - but applied to all classic westerns - is when they broke chairs over the good guy's head and it never seemed to faze him. Only in the movie can a guy get punched flush in the jaw and have a wooden chair broken over his skull, and the victim is no worse for the wear!

"Ride Him Cowboy" was the first of six westerns that John Wayne made for Warner Bros. for the 1932-33 season. Most were remakes of Ken Maynard silent westerns pf the 1920s thus giving the studio the opportunity to use stock footage from those films (which they did). This one is a remake of Maynard's 1926 film "The Unknown Cavalier". To match any stock footage used, the studio costumed Wayne in Maynard's costume and used a horse ("Duke") that looked the same as Maynard's "Tarzan".

This first film gets the series off to a good start. Directed by Fred Allen (No, not THAT Fred Allen), the story moves along and holds the viewer's interest. Since the series was made at WB, the production values were far superior to those in Wayne's later "Lone Star" westerns.

The story centers on how Wayne came to acquire his horse "Duke". The Hawk, aka Henry Sims (Frank Hagney) and his gang are robbing and pillaging the local ranchers. One particular night they hit the Gaunt ranch. The foreman, Bob Webb (Edmund Cobb) is attacked. The attack, for some reason, is made to look like Webb was trampled by Gaunt's prize palomino "Duke".

The horse is about to be destroyed after a "trial" in town when a stranger, John Drury (Wayne) rides into town. He pleads with the Deputy Sheriff (Henry Cribbon), the owner John Gaunt (Henry B. Wathall) and his daughter Ruth (Ruth Hall) for a chance to ride the horse and tame him. He does this and the horse takes a shine to him. Gaunt allows Drury to take the horse as he also becomes attracted to Ruth.

Drury offers his services to the town to track down the mysterious bandit. He and Sims who offers to be his guide set out in search of "The Hawk". In the desert, Sims reveals himself to be "The Hawk" and ties up Drury and leaves him for dead. "Duke", however, is able to free his master.

While attacking another ranch, Sims plants Drury's harmonica and later cites him as "The Hawk". A mock trial before Judge Clarence "Necktie" Jones is held, Drury is found guilty and..................................

A good series opener with little obvious use of stock footage.