How the Cowboy Makes His Lariat

How the Cowboy Makes His Lariat (1917)

*** (out of 4)

Wild West performer Pedro Leon is the highlight of this three-minute film that shows how cowboys make rope and various other items. Within the three-minutes we learn that horsehair is the best thing to use so we see a couple men, including Leon, put the hair together and from here we see how they get it prepared to use for rope and other items. There's really nothing ground-breaking that happens in this film but I must admit that it held my interest throughout and I found the entire subject to be rather interesting. At such a short running time there's nothing that we're going to learn in great detail but I still found it interesting seeing Leon put this rope together and work it. It's doubtful too many will be intrigued by this today but those wanting to see Leon in action should enjoy it.

This 3 minute films is part of a collection entitled "Treasures of the West"---a collection of mostly short films from the earliest days of movies until 1938.

Pedro León stars in this very short film. He was not only an actor but had made a name for himself appearing in wild west shows of the day. Here in this educational film, he shows how he makes rope--using horsehair and wood. It's not exactly the most exciting film ever made (that's for sure) and I can't see folks getting that excited by it today. Mildly interesting if you are into horses and cowboys, otherwise it's probably nothing more than a historical curiosity about how the Spanish vaqueros lived and ranched. Because of the sort of film it is, I really don't think I can give this one a numerical score.

Bray was not only the man who produced the first successful series of cartoons in the US, nor the man who retired to a life of ease off the income from the patents he assembled to do so -- the "Bray-Hurd Patents" that cartoons all mentioned well in the 1930s, particularly the basic cel that permitted the relatively cheap illusion of movement. His studio produced many live-action shorts before moving permanently into industrial films in the 1930s.

In this very early example, we see a real cowboy put together a lariat. I always thought it was simply a finely-woven rope, but apparently it is woven from horsehair -- from the mane and tail. Who'd a thunk it?