My Outlaw Brother

Mickey Rooney (as J. Dennis "Denny" O'Moore) is out west, looking to find his brother Robert Stack (as Patrick O'Moore), whom he hasn't seen in eight years. Mr. Rooney meets up with Robert Preston (as Joe Walter), who is looking for the notorious outlaw known as "El Tigre". No prize for guessing how "El Tigre" is related to Rooney. Wanda Hendrix adds femininity to "My Outlaw Brother".

Tip your cowboy hat to Mickey Rooney, who is the film's greatest asset; and, he gets the larger women. Mr. Stack is penetrating as Rooney's unlikely brother. Mr. Preston makes a good partner; wisely, he is low key in the presence of Rooney. Just an interesting cast in a slight film.

**** My Outlaw Brother (8/22/51) Elliott Nugent ~ Mickey Rooney, Wanda Hendrix, Robert Preston, Robert Stack

Rather lame western. Director Nugent fails to play up whatever suspense may lurk in what amounts to a meandering screenplay. On the whole, the story bounces around without building. Thus we're left with a turgid storyline spread across three or four main characters. Rooney arrives in Mexico accompanied by Preston in order to learn more about his brother Stack who's living below the border. Trouble is the area's beset by outlaws led by mysterious El Tigre, and soon the new arrivals are caught up in outlaw shenanigans. Fortunately, locals Hendrix and Torvay are on hand to help out.

At this point, Rooney was still a headline name but with a diminishing career. I expect that's one reason he shares so much screen time with Preston and Stack who are on their way up the ladder. Then too, the diminutive Hendrix is an apt leading lady since she and Rooney make a good visual pairing. Still, the former Andy Hardy appears unsure how to play his part in a western while Nugent appears no help. In fact, some of Rooney's behavior border on the distractingly comical. Also, that fine personality actor Robert Preston is wasted in a role a hundred lesser actors could have filled. Only Stack manages to register in a more strongly written role. Maybe the movie's best part are the settings which look authentically south of the border. And catch the blacksmith's infernally scary workshop. Too bad the rest of the movie doesn't measure up to those few impactful moments. Fortunately, Rooney would soon move on to more appropriate roles.

When this film debuted in 1951, Mickey Rooney was not nearly as popular an actor in Hollywood as he'd been a decade earlier. And, so many of his previous films were nothing like "My Outlaw Brother" but were more slices of an idealized American life--minor love stories involving his Andy Hardy character or superficial musicals. Here, however, he is inexplicably in an independent B-western--a HUGE change of pace from the usual fancy MGM pieces he appeared in at the time. Now this is not a bad thing--as it did offer a nice change of pace and a chance to see him in a more gritty sort of film.

The movie begins with an Easterner (Rooney) showing up out West...unprepared and totally out of place. Despite this, he manages to find a friend in a local Texas Ranger (Robert Preston) who looks out for him. However, the Ranger is surprised to learn that his new friend, though quite likable, might just be the brother of a local outlaw who is wanted on both sides of the border. So, when this greenhorn travels into Mexico to find his brother, the Ranger tags along. What's next? See the film.

For a B-western, this is better than normal. Some better than average acting, a decent script and nice production values make this quite satisfying and worth your time--even with the odd ending where Rooney's character seems amazingly ambivalent with the way things ended up by the conclusion.

This ‘B’ Western is the working definition of an “oater”: designed as a vehicle for the diminutive but energetic Mickey Rooney, his character is somewhat overbearing – that of a New Yorker who goes to Mexico in search of his elder brother, nicknamed “The Pride Of Tenth Avenue” (played by Robert Stack), only to find him to be not as upstanding and hard-working as he had been led to believe. In fact, Stack’s the right-hand man of a notorious bandit – dubbed “El Tigre”; when confronted by Rooney, Stack confesses to being indebted to the Mexican…but when ultimately revealed, the latter’s true identity greatly dismays Rooney (a clue: Stack and the bandit never appear together in the same scene!). Anyway, the film is unassuming and pretty forgettable but, at the same time, watchable enough; on the plus side is an appropriately foreign look (the production company took the trouble of shooting on location, albeit in a studio – the hacienda setting, incidentally, would soon become a staple of Mexican horror efforts!), as well as the imposing and reliable presence of Robert Preston as the Ranger out to capture “El Tigre”. The feminine angle is represented by petite Wanda Hendrix, coveted by Stack but who finally ends up with Rooney – content, for once, to be able to get a girl his own size instead of the usual “6-foot whales” from back home!

A south-of-the border oater most appropriate for those who remember the days when Mickey Rooney was one of the absolute biggest box office draws, for those who love Robert Preston and want to see him in an earlier film role, and for anyone who only came to love Robert Stack in The Untouchables and so then became motivated to see his earlier but less familiar film work, this is a fun matinée flick! A serious Preston, Stack not as the Elliot Ness type of good guy, but as a seriously evil and duplicitous villain, and Rooney providing the necessary comedic relief when needed. One surprise element you can see coming, one you cannot -- good fisticuffs, some stupid moves by the good guys, and some nice shoot-outs, all in black and white, what more do you need to go get the popcorn ready?