The Renegade Ranger

RKO's B Westerns were always strong in the acting and script department. And "The Renegade Ranger" is no exception. Long-time cowboy star George O'Brien is solid as always. But it's relative newcomers Tim Holt and Rita Hayworth that really shine. Holt seethes with talent and emotion. And Hayworth just seethes.

You can tell both are headed for great things. Holt would become RKO's top B Western star with occasional forays into A pictures such as "Magnificent Ambersons" and "Treasure of the Sierra Madre". And Hayworth would become a superstar.

The writing is equally solid. Frequent B scribe Oliver Drake gives a sympathetic portrayal of Mexican outlaws in Texas. Proving once again that B Westerns aren't as politically retrograde as many think.

Yup, all this is good. But RKO B Westerns also have downside. The action isn't that well-staged. And there's never enough of it. This film is no exception there either. Promised fights are over too quick. Promised showdowns look confused and unfocused. And without good action, a Western can really drag. And this one does.

Still "The Renegade Ranger" is worth a watch for the intriguing plot, reliable O'Brien and especially the nascent talents of Holt and Hayworth.

THE RENEGADE RANGER (1938) is a 59-minute B-western about how white expansion in Texas forced out Spanish and Mexican landowners. Rita Hayworth plays Judith Alvarez, daughter of a Spanish landowner whose land has been taken by white landgrabbers working with a corrupt sheriff. She leads a band of Spaniards and Mexicans in making attacks on the ranchers who've taken their land illegally. Tim Holt plays a frustrated ex-Texas Ranger who wholeheartedly joins Alvarez' band and helps in their efforts. He even acquires a Mexican girlfriend (Cecilia Callejo). George O'Brien plays Holt's Texas Ranger buddy who joins the gang himself, working undercover, on assignment to capture and arrest Miss Alvarez. Holt is torn between loyalty to Alvarez and her cause and his friendship with O'Brien. O'Brien gradually falls in love with Judith himself, which complicates matters even further.

This is a fascinating movie on multiple counts, not least of which is the presence of Rita Hayworth in the role of an Hispanic crusader against white depredations. Hayworth was of Spanish descent herself (real name: Margarita Carmen Cansino) and her band is cast entirely with actual Mexican actors. (The more B-westerns I see, the more I realize that appropriate ethnic casting of Mexican and Indian roles was the rule and not the exception in this genre.) Hayworth was all of 19 when she made this and she was already a great beauty, adorned in stylish western fashions that bring out the best in her. It's easy to see the roots of the glamorous movie star and pinup queen she'd become in a few short years.

Also, the whites, except for the two male stars, O'Brien and Holt, are generally bad guys here and the taking of land from its original owners is condemned. (No word though, about the souls who occupied the land before the Spaniards arrived, but that's another story.) I've seen another western with this plot recently, "California Frontier" (1938), starring Buck Jones as an army officer working undercover in California to thwart white landgrabbers taking land from Mexicans. Rita herself had co-starred in a similar western in 1936, REBELLION. I imagine that further exploration into the vast uncharted territory of the B-western will yield additional gems.

A story of the texas rangers, with western regulars george o'brien and tim holt. Twenty year old hayworth, in one of her first roles as rita hayworth; she was billed as rita cansino in most of her earlier roles. She is probably best known for "gilda". (how was she not even nominated for that role? Maybe because she was such a bad girl.) here, the rangers need to round up judith alvarez, even though she claims she was only defending her own property against a land grab. What is the truth? Who can she trust? Can she get fair treatment from the texas rangers? It's a typical western. Mostly talk for the first half of the one hour shortie. Then we head out on the horses. Even a couple of songs thrown in. It's not bad. Pretty mellow, no big surprises, but it's okay. Fun to see young miss hayworth so early on. Directed by david howard. He died young at age 45, just three years after this film!

This is a film basically about crooked land trickery in the old west, specifically Texas in this case. Such activities historically were well documented for a time along the Rio Grande on the far south Texas border rather than so specifically the Pecos River area of Texas which was mostly just empty desert, but do form a footnote in the five hundred year history of the Spanish Colonial New World and its later ex-colonies the Republic of Mexico and Republic of Texas (later to merge into the U.S. and become a State). The colorful border atmosphere is somewhat captured in this otherwise routine western movie.

Established star and real-life American hero George O'Brien is strong in the lead role and young buck Tim Holt is an unpredictable and mercurial kid Ranger and they are both fine in their roles, ordinary as the roles may be. Veteran actors do good work in support.

But now the reason for my review of this movie: stunning young Rita Hayworth. Her beauty and screen presence jump off the screen. She has obviously got "it". Her acting is forceful and her wardrobe ranges from pretty dresses to riding clothes that do not (or cannot) constrain certain parts of her upper torso. As a side note, I could mention that she does an impressive amount of her own horsemanship in this film. And if I was a rider in her vigilante justice group I would surely follow her to hell and back. Hayworth is a young actress giving a good performance here that sets her up for the launch of her soon to be mega-stardom, and deservedly so.

OK, its only an ordinary b-western. But the film's three starring performers elevate it well above what it otherwise would be.

Texas Ranger Jack Steele is assigned to bring in former ranch owner Judith Alvarez, now the leader of a gang who is waging war against the crooked government official who cheated the ranchers out of their land. Steele is determined to bring her in as she still breaking the law, though deep down he knows she's in the right, but Larry, an ex-Ranger, who is part of Judith's gang, is trying persuade him not to hand her in to the authorities as the law is ruled by the crooked official.

George O' Brien stars in the renegade Ranger, a decent western with the usual well-tread formula, but the fast-pace, a striking Rita Hayworth and Tim Holt who oozes charisma and a well-structured plot keep it interesting.