Un rude cow-boy

George O'Brien wants to sell the ranch he's just inherited, but the lawyer tells him that he can't get a good price for it. Five thousand head of cattle have disappeared. When he goes to the ranch to make enquiries, everyone assumes he's another saddle tramp who has fallen in love at first sight with the manager's daughter, Irene Hervey, so they give him a job and make fun of him.

This B western is something special. Under the direction of comedy specialist Eddie Cline, the performers get to act with great charm, and the tricks that are played on O'Brien are deadly -- and funny. Sid Saylor plays the comic sidekick, but he's not simply another clown, but a smart, tough cowboy with a strong goofy streak. There is plenty of good location shooting, with a beautiful long shot for the final confrontation. For a B western, this is as good as it gets.

Easterner George O'Brien inherits his uncle's half of a ranch and goes undercover as a hired-hand in order to find out exactly who has been rustling his livestock. He soon discovers that his uncle's invalid partner isn't crippled after all and is apparently behind the thefts. Complicating things is O'Brien's crush on the old man's daughter.

You really can't go wrong with any of the Zane Grey pictures from the 1930's. They have some of the healthiest budgets and best writing of all the era's B-westerns, making them a cut above the average poverty-row programmer.

This may not have Randolph Scott and John Wayne, some of the stars from Paramount's Zane Grey series. However, The Dude Ranger features some great photography, three-dimensional characters, and some genuine suspense, as well as a few twists near the end that I didn't see coming.

Leading lady Irene Hervey is quite beautiful too.

Although containing less heated "action" than most B-westerns, "The Dude Ranger" is a sensitive but yet swiftly-moving film with well-acted roles and direction that reflects predetermined camera angles and logical call-and-response sequencing. Irene Hervey, appearing here as a loaner in only her second year under contract with MGM, is handed a role that demands more than most B-western heroines are asked to provide. She does a real nice job as a modern woman, at once haughty and seemingly so self-assured in her "lack of competition" femininity, who has found herself immersed in an abundance of Old West masculinity. Although surrounded by all sort of male characters, she needs a "realized" man to enter her life, and guess what...? Ms. Hervey is photographed beautifully in this picture and handles her acting duties very well, communicating plenty of varied and nuanced emotion. George O'Brien is his old reliable self, mostly easy-going but heroic when need be. They also came up with a unique signature behavior for Syd Saylor's nicely-played sidekick role. The entire cast is sharp. Then there is the location scenery... definitely a cut above, with backdrops that include locales well-known to visitors of national parks and monuments in Arizona and Utah. The well-attended barn dance is notable in that the music played there is surprisingly "uptown hot" for 1934, a musical style that was just beginning to legitimize itself in New York and Chicago at that time, certainly not one anticipated to be provided for a remote Arizona ranch dance... but oh well. This film also includes a score of sorts, especially in the latter half, that is not intrusively overdone; one could argue it actually enhances the impact of the closing scene. In summary, one will find in this picture a well-executed adult film treatment of the cowboy genre', longer on romance than most films of the day, and a little shorter on guns, fights, and chases. Satisfying for sure!

This Western is based on a Zane Grey story about a crooked rancher who is stealing cattle. George O'Brien plays the owner of the ranch, who through a case of mistaken identity, is thought to be the Dude Ranger on the ranch. He is after the crooked bosses daughter, played by Irene Harvey.

The film as the typical western sidekick, in this case a guitar playing singer. The film is OK, nothing special, and is an example of a cheap B-Western film, filmed with spectacular scenery. Irene Hervey was loaned out from her home film studio to play the role in this film. LeRoy Mason plays one of the villains.

Syd Saylor was as good a serious side-kick as ever forked a horse, but he was thoroughly capable of playing a comic, or occasionally comic, partner as well.

He proved it in this excellent B Western, with a lot of by-play between him and star George O'Brien.

O'Brien was as good-looking and healthy a specimen as ever played a cowboy hero, fully capable of action heroics as well as romantic scenes.

The story, by iconic Zane Grey, is beautifully presented in a script by Barry Barringer directed by Edward Cline.

What makes this stand out is the characterization by all the performers, including the lovely Irene Hervey. She plays a spoiled, even seemingly conceited young lady of the range in a breezy city-slicker manner, but proves actually very likable, if sometimes flighty.

LeRoy Mason, here Le Roy, is his usual good-looking but rotten villain, alternating between seemingly likable and trustworthy ranch foreman and lecherous and traitorous thief.

Again, the entire cast is just about perfect, from the briefly seen Vesper Pegg, who just steals his scene of bringing up a mount, to the West-loving Earl Dwire, to Slim Whitaker and Lafe McKee and ... well, several others, none of whom get screen credit, but who all give us good reason to praise IMDb for providing the information.

There are a couple of flaws, a moment of trite action happening in just the right place, for example, that brought down the rating from that perfect 10, but I highly recommend "The Dude Ranger" which is available at YouTube.