1930′s Films | Cowboy Movies

January 9, 2009

Stagecoach

Filed under: 1930's Films — Tags: Stagecoach — Wayne @ 9:28 am

Stagecoach is a 1939 western film directed by John Ford, starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne in his breakthrough role. The screenplay, written by Dudley Nichols and Ben Hecht, is an adaptation of “The Stage to Lordsburg”, a 1937 short story by Ernest Haycox. The film follows a group of strangers riding on a stagecoach through dangerous Apache territory.

Although Ford had made many silent films in the Western genre prior to Stagecoach, this was his first with sound. It was also the first of many films which Ford made on location in Monument Valley, in the American southwest on the Arizona-Utah border, many of which also starred John Wayne.

Origins

The screenplay is an adaptation by Dudley Nichols of “The Stage to Lordsburg”, a short story by Ernest Haycox. The rights to “Lordsburg” were bought by John Ford soon after it was published in Colliers Illustrated on 10 April 1937. According to Thomas Schatz, Ford claimed that his inspiration in expanding Stagecoach beyond the barebones plot given in “The Stage to Lordsburg” was his familiarity with another short story, “Boule de Suif” by Guy de Maupassant. Schatz believes “this scarcely holds up to scrutiny” and argues that a more likely inspiration was Bret Harte’s 1892 short story The Outcasts of Poker Flat.

Ford’s claim also seems to be the basis for claiming that Haycox himself relied upon Guy de Maupassant’s story. However, there appears to be no concrete evidence for Haycox actually being familiar with the earlier story, especially as he was documented as going out of his way to avoid reading the work of others that might unconsciously influence his writing, and he focused his personal reading in the area of history.

Reputation

Stagecoach has been lauded as one of the most influential films ever made. Edward Buscombe writes that the introduction of Wayne’s character Ringo is “one of the most stunning entrances in all of cinema…The camera dollies quickly in towards a tight close-up…So fast is the dolly in that the operator can’t quite hold the focus.” Orson Welles argued that it was a perfect textbook of film making and claimed to have watched it more than 40 times during the making of Citizen Kane.

Remakes

The 1966 remake of Stagecoach starred (in alphabetical order) Ann-Margret, Red Buttons, Mike Connors, Alex Cord, Bing Crosby, Robert Cummings, Van Heflin, Slim Pickens, and Stefanie Powers.
A 1986 television version featured Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, and Waylon Jennings.

Cast

Claire Trevor as Dallas
John Wayne as The Ringo Kid
Andy Devine as Buck
John Carradine as Hatfield
Thomas Mitchell as Doc Boone
Louise Platt as Lucy Mallory
George Bancroft as Marshal Curly Wilcox
Donald Meek as Samuel Peacock
Berton Churchill as Henry Gatewood
Tim Holt as Lieutenant Blanchard
Tom Tyler as Luke Plummer
Yakima Canutt as Cavalry scout
Chris-Pin Martin as Chris

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Dodge City

Filed under: 1930's Films — Tags: Dodge City — Wayne @ 9:25 am

Dodge City is a western movie starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. Directed by Hungarian-turned-Hollywood filmmaker Michael Curtiz and based on a story by Robert Buckner, it was filmed in early Technicolor. As a classic western, Dodge City contains — with the possible exception of an attack by hostile Red Indians — all the stock ingredients and clichés the genre has usually been associated with. It chronicles the rise, after the end of the Civil War, of the small frontier post of Dodge City, Kansas to civilized and respectable town and trading place for cattle. In the process, Dodge City has to get rid of the baddies terrorizing the citizens, and it takes a new sheriff and his deputy to clean up the town and introduce law and order.

Plot

The action of the film starts with Colonel Dodge arriving on the first train and subsequently opening the new railroad line that links Dodge City with the rest of the world. A few years later, Dodge City has turned into the “longhorn cattle center of the world and wide-open Babylon of the American frontier, packed with settlers, thieves and gunmen — the town that knew no ethics but cash and killing”. In particular, it is Jeff Surrett and his gang who kill, steal, cheat and, generally, control life in Dodge City without ever being brought to justice. As Surrett has installed one of his puppets as sheriff, the other citizens’ hands are tied when it comes to arresting any of the evildoers.

Dodge’s friend Wade Hatton, a lone cowboy who was instrumental in bringing the railroad to Dodge City, is now on his way to the town leading a trek of settlers from the East coast. At Hatton’s side is his old companion Rusty, who is prepared to stay with him through thick and thin. Among the settlers are beautiful Abbie Irving and her irresponsible brother, who, drunk, causes a stampede and is shot by Hatton in self-defense. When the group arrive in Dodge City, Hatton is confronted with the full extent of the anarchy which is dictating everyday life there. Asked by anxious citizens — Abbie’s uncle among them — to be the new sheriff, Hatton politely declines, saying he is not cut out for this kind of job.

Hatton changes his mind when, during a school outing, a young boy is inadvertently killed by Surrett and his men. The new sheriff and his deputy — Rusty of course — have a hard time not just fighting the criminals but also convincing all the farmers who have been wronged by Surrett that mob rule (“Come on, boys, let’s take ‘em out to the plaza”) is out of the question: When Yancy, one of Surrett’s thugs, is in jail, Hatton has to protect him against the furious men outside who, not caring for Yancy’s right to a fair trial, want to take the law into their own hands and lynch him right then and there.

In the end Hatton succeeds in both overwhelming and catching the baddies and winning Abbie’s heart. Everything has been prepared for a quiet family life in newly civilized Dodge City, but Hatton is asked by Colonel Dodge to clean up Virginia City, Nevada, another railroad town more dangerous than Dodge City had ever been. Understanding how much Wade is needed to settle the West, a loving Abbie heartily suggests she and her new husband join the next wagon train for their new life together.

Memorable scenes

The railroad as a symbol of progress: a race between the Iron Horse and the old stagecoach which has served Dodge City for decades but whose time is now over
Rusty attending a meeting of the “Pure Prairie League of Dodge City”, a gathering of elderly women strongly associated with the temperance movement. (The organization may have been the source of the name for the 1970s and 80s band of the same name).
A saloon brawl, triggered by a party of Confederate veterans (“My Heart Turns Back to Dixie”) — the North against the South, a decade after the end of the Civil War. Actress Ann Sheridan loses the top of her dress while falling off a chair in the scene.
The editor of the Dodge City Star, trying to be brave and publishing an exposé about Surrett and his evil machinations, being murdered by Yancy — investigative journalism and its bitter consequences
A speeding train on fire — the final shoot-out.
Wade, Abby, and Rusty’s daring escape out of the burning box car.
Errol Flynn as Wade taking a fall and having a gate bounce off the back of his head in the newspaper office.

Cast

Errol Flynn as Wade Hatton
Olivia de Havilland as Abbie Irving
Bruce Cabot as Jeff Surrett
Alan Hale, Sr. as Rusty
Victor Jory as Yancy

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Destry Rides Again

Filed under: 1930's Films — Tags: Destry Rides Again — Wayne @ 9:24 am

Destry Rides Again is a 1939 western directed by George Marshall, starring Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart, Mischa Auer, Charles Winninger, Brian Donlevy, Allen Jenkins, Irene Hervey, Billy Gilbert, Bill Cody, Jr. and Una Merkel.

In 1996, Destry Rides Again was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Plot

Saloon owner Kent (Donlevy), the unscrupulous boss of the western town of Bottleneck has Sheriff Keogh killed when he asks one too many questions about a rigged poker game. Kent, his henchmen and “Frenchy” (Dietrich), the dance hall queen now have a stranglehold over the local cattle rangers. The mayor, who is in with Kent, appoints the town drunk, Washington Dimsdale (Winninger), as the new sheriff, assuming that he’ll be easy to control. But what the mayor doesn’t know is that Dimsdale was a deputy under famous lawman, Tom Destry, and is able to call upon the equally formidable Tom Destry Jr (Stewart) to be his deputy and make Bottleneck a lawful, respectable area.

Destry confounds the townsfolk by refusing to strap on a gun, but he still carries out the “letter of the law” and wins over the doubters. A final confrontation between Destry and Kent’s gang is inevitable and with “Frenchy” won over, a final gunfight ensues. The rule of law eventually wins out.

Production

Famed Western writer, Max Brand contributed the original novel, Destry Rides Again but the story soon became a typical “oater” with the town of Bottleneck set on a Hollywood sound stage.

Other versions

Universal Pictures released an earlier version, also titled Destry Rides Again (1932), directed by Benjamin Stoloff and starring Tom Mix.^[2].
A remake, Destry (1954), was directed by George Marshall and starred Audie Murphy and Thomas Mitchell.
A Broadway musical version of the story, Destry Rides Again, opened in New York at the Imperial Theater on April 23, 1959, and played 472 performances. Produced by David Merrick, the show had a book by Leonard Gershe and music and lyrics by Harold Rome and starred Andy Griffith as Destry and Dolores Gray as Frenchy.

Cast

Marlene Dietrich Frenchy, the saloon singer
James Stewart Thomas Jefferson “Tom” Destry, Jr., the new deputy
Mischa Auer Boris Callahan, the henpecked Russian
“Charlie” Winninger ”Wash” (Washington Dimsdale), the new sheriff
Brian Donlevy Kent, the saloon owner
Allen Jenkins ”Gyp” Watson
Warren Hymer ”Bugs” Watson
Irene Hervey Janice Tyndall

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The Texans

Filed under: 1930's Films — Tags: The Texans — Wayne @ 9:21 am

The Texans is a 1938 film made by Paramont Pictures, directed by James P. Hogan, and starring by Joan Bennett, Randolph Scott. The screenplay was written by William Wister Haines, Bertram Millhauser and Paul Sloane, besed on story North of ’36 by Emerson Hough.

Synopsis

After the Civil War the Texas ranch owners send their cow to Kansas to sell it.

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The Terror of Tiny Town

Filed under: 1930's Films — Tags: The Terror of Tiny Town — Wayne @ 9:20 am

The Terror of Tiny Town is a 1938 film, produced by Jed Buell and directed by Sam Newfield, and starring Billy Curtis. It is the world’s only Western with an all-midget cast. The plot is about a cowboy helping out a beautiful ranch owner menaced by local thugs. Using a conventional Western story with an entire midget cast, the filmmakers were able to showcase gags such as cowboys entering the local saloon by walking under the swinging doors, and pint-sized cowboys galloping around on Shetland ponies while roping calves. Many of these same actors were part of a performing troupe called Jed Buell’s Midgets, who also played Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz, released in 1939.

Cultural Influences

Clips from the film were used in the following:

The video for the Dead Kennedys fast paced cover of the theme from Rawhide (from the In God We Trust, Inc album)
Hal Ketchum’s music video for Small Town Saturday Night from his album Past The Point of Rescue.
In the background in a scene of the film Johnny Suede where Brad Pitt (in one of his first roles) enthuses to his friend over the telephone about the film.

In 1986, The Terror of Tiny Town was featured in an episode of the Canned Film Festival, a nationally-syndicated B movie satire series starring Laraine Newman.

In 1988, the punk rock band Adrenalin O.D. recorded a song entitled Theme From An Imaginary Midget Western, an apparent nod to both this film and the recording Theme From An Imaginary Western by the band Mountain.

The film is mentioned in, The Snarkout Boys and the Baconburg Horror, a book by Daniel Pinkwater as one of the movies shown at the Snark Theater.

The film was mentioned in an episode of M*A*S*H (TV series) by Maxwell Klinger.

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Rawhide

Filed under: 1930's Films — Tags: Rawhide — Wayne @ 9:18 am

Rawhide is a 1938 western film made by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. It was directed by Ray Taylor and produced by Sol Lesser from a screenplay by Jack Natteford and Daniel Jarrett. The cinematography was by Allen Q. Thompson. It is the only Hollywood movie in which baseball great Lou Gehrig made a screen appearance, playing himself as a vacationing ballplayer visiting his sister Peggy (played by Evalyn Knapp) on a ranch in the fictional town of Rawhide, Montana. The film remains available on DVD and VHS formats.

Plot

The storyline revolves around Lou Gehrig playing himself, who decides to give up baseball in New York for the life of a western cattle rancher. Once at the ranch, Gehrig encounters a protection racket preying on the ranchers by extortion and violence. He teams up with a crusading local attorney to fight the crooks and ultimately put them in jail.

In the opening scene, Lou Gehrig is surrounded by a group of reporters at Grand Central Terminal in New York City, where he is about to take a train to his sister’s ranch out west in Rawhide. Proclaiming that he is “through with baseball”, he tells the sceptical newsmen that he wants the “peace and quiet” of the cowboy life.

Gehrig plays an easygoing dude rancher, whose self-deprecating humor is displayed the first time he attempts to ride a horse. As he timidly approaches his steed, a ranch hand urges, “Jus’ walk right up to him like ya’ wasn’t afraid”, to which Gehrig deadpans, “I couldn’t be that deceitful”.

An unscrupulous interloper, Ed Saunders, and his henchmen have seized control of the local “Ranchers Protective Association” by subterfuge and are using it as a front to extort outrageous “association fees” from the local ranchers, resorting to violence and bribery. After Gehrig refuses to pay, one of his ranch hands is shot by one of the crooks. Gehrig storms into the local saloon to confront Saunders and his gang. When a barroom brawl ensues, the attorney (played by co-star Smith Ballew) joins in the fight as Gehrig hurls billiard balls at the criminals. The movie eventually reaches a climax in the obligatory western film chase scene when Gehrig and the other ranchers form a posse to chase the fleeing Saunders gang and put them in jail.

The film has several musical interludes. Ballew sings When a Cowboy Goes to Town by Albert von Tilzer (who also composed the familiar Take Me Out to the Ball Game). Other songs credited are Cowboy’s Life by Charles Rosoff, Drifting also by von Tilzer, and That Old Washboard Band by Norman Phelps.

Production

Filming took place in January 1938 during the baseball off-season. Other actors in the film are Arthur Loft, who plays the villain Ed Saunders, Dick Curtis, his henchman, and Cy Kendall, the corrupt sheriff.

Rawhide premiered in March 1938 in St. Petersburg, Florida while the New York Yankees were in town for their annual spring training at Al Lang Field. The occasion was celebrated by a gala parade complete with local marching bands and fireworks. Led by the Florida resort town’s mayor and baseball booster, Al Lang (in whose honor the stadium would later be renamed), other parade participants included Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert, Yankees manager Joe McCarthy, and Frankie Frisch, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals (who also trained in St. Petersburg at the time). The New York Times informed readers that when the parade reached the theater’s lobby, “Two-Gun Lou, spurs and all, will be on the receiving line to shake the hands of distinguished guests”. The film was released in general distribution to movie theaters on April 8, 1938. Later, the New York City-born Gehrig would joke that it was the first time he had ever been on a horse.

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Overland Stage Raiders

Filed under: 1930's Films — Tags: Overland Stage Raiders — Wayne @ 9:16 am

Overland Stage Raiders is a 1938 Three Mesquiteers film starring John Wayne. The movie is notable for being the final film in which silent film icon Louise Brooks performed.

Cast

John Wayne – Stony Brooke
Ray Corrigan – Tucson Smith
Max Terhune – Lullaby Joslin
Louise Brooks – Beth Hoyt
Anthony Marsh – Ned Hoyt
John Archer – Bob Whitney
Gordon Hart – W. T.Mullins
Roy James – Dave Harmon
Olin Francis – Henchman Jake
Fern Emmett – Ma Hawkins
Henry Otho – Sheriff Mason
George Sherwood – Henchman Clanton
Arch Hall Sr. – Joe Waddell
Frank LaRue – Hank Milton

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The Painted Stallion

Filed under: 1930's Films — Tags: The Painted Stallion — Wayne @ 9:15 am

The Painted Stallion (1937) is a Republic Movie serial. It was the sixth Republic serial of the sixty-six made by that company. Western serials such as this made up a third of the serials from Republic, a studio that was also heavily involved in making B-Western feature films at the time.

This serial saw the directorial debut of William Witney who would become one of the star directors at Republic. It was not until Zorro Rides Again, later in 1937, that he first worked with his famous directorial partner, John English. Witney had been working as an editor on earlier serials but made the switch when another director became unable to work due to heavy drinking.

Plot

A wagon train travelling from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe means trouble for Alfredo Dupray, his authority from Spain will end with the arrival of a Mexican Governor. He plots to solve this by intercepting a trade agreement, to be negotiated by Clark Stuart on the wagon train, and disrupt US-Mexican relations.

Repeated attacks are thwarted, however, by the appearance of a mysterious Rider on a Painted Stallion who issues warnings with her whistling arrows. With her help Clark Stuart, along with historical characters, Kit Carson, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett work to defeat Dupray. Eventually, they assist the arrival of the US Cavalry and the treaty is signed, leaving Stuart and the Rider to ride away together.

Production

The serial was filmed between 10 February and 3 March 1937. The serial’s production number was 421. The Painted Stallion was budgeted for $102,157 but went over budget by $7007 (6.9%). The final cost of production was $109,164. This made the serial the cheapest republic serial of 1937 and the fourth cheapest of all Republic serials.

Stunts

Yakima Canutt as Clark Stuart & Alfredo Dupray (doubling Ray “Crash” Corrigan and LeRoy Mason)
Babe DeFreest as The Rider (doubling Julia Thayer)
Duke Taylor

Special Effects

The Lydecker brothers

Cast

Ray “Crash” Corrigan as Clark Stuart, government official with a trade treaty to be agreed with Mexico
Hoot Gibson as Walter Jamison, Leader of the Wagon train
LeRoy Mason as Alfredo Dupray, Spanish dictator determined to hold onto power
Duncan Renaldo as ‘Zamorro’, one of Dupray’s henchmen
Sammy McKim as Young Christopher ‘Kit’ Carson, along as part of the wagon train
Hal Taliaferro as Jim Bowie, along as part of the wagon train
Jack Perrin as Davy Crockett, along as part of the wagon train
Oscar and Elmer as ‘Oscar and Elmer’, a comedy duo with the wagon train

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The Plainsman

Filed under: 1930's Films — Tags: The Plainsman — Wayne @ 9:13 am

The Plainsman (1936) is a Western movie directed by Cecil B. DeMille that presents a highly fictionalized account of the adventures and relationships between Wild Bill Hickok (Gary Cooper), Calamity Jane (Jean Arthur), Buffalo Bill Cody and General George Custer, with a gun-runner named Lattimer (Charles Bickford) as the main villain. The film is notorious for mixing timelines and even has an opening scene with Abraham Lincoln setting the stage for Hickock’s adventures. Anthony Quinn has a cameo as an Indian.

A remake using the same title was released in 1966.

Plot

With the end of the American Civil War, military industrialists are left with an oversupply of weapons. Some of the more unscrupulous ones view the Indians as possible new customers.

Having been just discharged from the Union Army, Wild Bill Hickok is making his way back west. On a paddle steamer, he bumps into his old army scout colleague, Buffalo Bill Cody and his new bride. Later, Calamity Jane is the driver of their stagecoach to Hays, Kansas.

Lattimer, an agent for the gun makers, has supplied the Cheyenne Indians with repeating rifles, which enables them to kill half of the troopers at an U.S. Cavalry outpost. Hickok finds out about rifles and reports it to General Custer. Custer sends out a resupply mule train to the fort with Cody as guide. Hickok tries to locate Yellow Hand, the Cheyenne chieftain, to find out why the Indians have gone to war.

When Calamity Jane is captured by the Indians, Hickok tries to bargain for her release but instead gets captured himself. In the only scene sympathetic to the Indian’s plight, Yellow Hand states that the Indians are fighting because the white man has starting settling land promised to the Indian and is killing off the buffalo. Yellow Hand promises to release his captives if they tell him the location of the resupply train. After much prodding from Jane, Hickok professes his love for her just before he is about to be tortured. Calamity Jane then discloses the route of the resupply train in order to save Hickok from being burned alive. Yellow Hand holds true to his word by releasing his two prisoners.

The Indians attack the resupply train. Hickok sends Jane to get reinforcements while he fights alongside the besieged soldiers. After a desperate six-day siege on a river bank, the survivors are saved when Custer arrives with the cavalry.

Back in town, Hickok catches up with Lattimer and tells him to get ready for a gun duel. Instead of going himself, Lattimer sends three cavalry deserters in his place. Hickok kills all three deserters in the gunfight, but this makes him a fugitive from the law. Hickok flees to the Dakota Territory. Calamity Jane leaves for Deadwood separately when the townspeople find out that she was partly responsible for the attack on the supply train.

Custer sends Cody after Hickok. After meeting in the woods, the two friends capture an Indian and learn that Custer has been killed at Battle of the Little Bighorn and that the Cheyenne are moving to join the Sioux Indians in the Black Hills. They also learn that Lattimer is sending more rifles to the Indians, to be picked up in Deadwood. Instead of arresting his friend, Cody rides off to warn the cavalry, while Hickok goes to Deadwood to deal with Lattimer. Hickok kills Lattimer and detains Lattimer’s henchmen for arrest by the cavalry. Hickok is shot in the back by Lattimer’s informant while he is playing cards with the henchmen. The film ends with a heart-broken Calamity Jane cradling Hickok’s body.

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The Miracle Rider

Filed under: 1930's Films — Tags: The Miracle Rider — Wayne @ 9:10 am

The Miracle Rider is a 1935 Mascot movie serial directed by B. Reeves Eason and Armand Schaefer. The serial stars Tom Mix.

Plot outline

Zaroff (Charles Middleton), a rancher and oil company owner, wants to drive the Ravenhead Indians off their reservation so that he can mine the rare element X-94, a super explosive, found there and sell it to the highest bidder. Texas Ranger Tom Morgan tries to stop him and save the tribe.

Production

This was Tom Mix’s last film and his only sound serial. Tom Mix was still an A-list star in 1935, along side Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr and Mary Pickford. He was paid $40,000 for four weeks work on The Miracle Rider, which he used as urgent funding to support his circus.

The serial combined the large cast and interlocking plots of a silent serial with the science fiction and cliffhangers of the sound era.

Stunts

Tom Mix, whose voice was strained and nasal due to a repeatedly broken nose and a bullet through his throat, did a lot of his own stunts, although some were doubled by Cliff Lyons.

Cast

Tom Mix as Tom Morgan, Texas Ranger
Joan Gale as Ruth
Charles Middleton as Zaroff, a rancher and oil company owner
Robert Frazer as Chief Black Wing
Niles Welch as Metzger
Jason Robards Sr. as Carlton (Jason Robards)
Bob Kortman as Longboat
Edward Earle as Christopher Adams, Indian Agent
Edward Hearn as Emil Janss
Tom London as Sewell, one of Zaroff’s henchmen
Edmund Cobb as Vining, one of Zaroff’s henchmen
Ernie Adams as John Stelter

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