Ride Him, Cowboy

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 (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.

John Wayne shows up just as the judge is about to rule whether a horse should be killed for being an ornery critter. Wayne offers to ride him, and does so, saving the horse and winning the admiration of Ruth Hall and her father, Henry Walthall. Walthall and his vigilante committee consult Wayne on what do do about a mysterious outlaw called the Hawk. Wayne offers to tackle him by his lonesome.

It's one of the movies that Wayne made at the nadir of his career, co-starring with this horse, called Duke. It's a remake of a silent western starring Ken Maynard, with a lot of the original footage cut in, because producer Leon Schlesinger believed in doing things on the cheap... which gives an idea of how far Walthall had fallen in the Hollywood scheme of things. Director Fred Allen was an editor when he wasn't making one of his eight directorial efforts, so the shooting is efficient and the shots well lit by cinematographer Ted McCord. There isn't much to this movie, but it kept everyone working for a few weeks and still plays all right.

It is fascinating to see the breadth of the 20 reviews for "Ride Him, Cowboy," with the ratings ranging from a two to a nine. However, no matter what the ratings viewers for the most part agree that the film is entertaining.

The production values are professional, the acting is clean and competent, and the story is fresh in its variation and quite captivating. The scene where the camera pans around the room during the dance while the unpolished and authentically rustic sounds of "Till We Meet Again" play is highly affecting and had to have been carefully composed and choreographed ahead of time.

The largest problem with the film is that the subtle and often wry humor with which the seriously-toned story develops jarringly and uncomfortably turns a little too farcical toward the end; continued subtlety would have worked better. The final five minutes seem to have been edited in a rush and slapped-together, as well.

John Wayne presents a unique persona here in the early 1930s with his amiable, relaxed, cool, considerate, and, above all, pleasant character. And at this early career stage I can't see how he can be faulted for his acting work, as he seems already relatively smooth and fluid and appropriately reactive (some of his facial reactions during his courtroom trial were endearingly right on).

Contrast Wayne with other early 1930s heroes including Buck Jones (serious and measured), Harry Carey (fatherly and thoughtful), Bob Steele (scrappy but tender), Tim McCoy (resolute and regal), Hoot Gibson (satirical and self-deprecating) and Ken Maynard (down home action figure) and one realizes Wayne had already developed his own niche (did Johnny Mack Brown channel a little of Wayne when he settled for, on, and into his own western film career in 1935?)

Overall, "Ride Him..." is fun, competent, historically notable, and a tad different...and should be seen by anyone actually taking the time to look over these reviews.

"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.