Ride Him, Cowboy (1932)

the audience applauded

That was an excellent one.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Copyright 23 August 1932 by Vitagraph, Inc. U.S. release through Warner Bros: 27 August 1932. No New York opening. U.K. release by Warner Bros: January 1933. 6 reels. 56 minutes. SYNOPSIS: John Drury (Wayne) is a wandering cowboy who saves a spirited wild horse ("Duke") from being put down after a killer, whose identity the horse knows, tries to cover up his crime by laying the blame for the rancher's death on the animal. But what the townsfolk didn't know was that their fellow citizen is actually a mysterious but ruthless bandit known as "The Hawk". NOTES: A re-make of The Unknown Cavalier (1926), starring Ken Maynard as Drury, Kathleen Collins as Ruth Gaunt, David Torrence as Gaunt, and James Mason as the marauder. Albert Rogell directed for producer Charles R. Rogers. Wayne did not make the list of top ten money-makers until 1949, when he suddenly jumped into 4th place. However, he did rank 7th in the first annual survey of western stars in 1936. The first of six "B" westerns Wayne was to make for Warner Bros, all of them co-starring "Duke" (variously billed as "The Devil Horse" and "The Miracle Horse"). COMMENT: A fascinating little western with great production values (augmented by a few stock shots from the 1926 Ken Maynard version), a suspenseful story, a few offbeat characters and some great acting, particularly from "Duke" the horse, "Duke" the star, Otis Harlan the judge (repeating his role from the 1926 film), and Frank Hagney the villain. Director Fred Allen shows occasional flashes of genius. A less imaginative director could well have made this movie into just another routine little oater. But aided by Ted McCord's superlative camerawork and the availability of some inspiring locations, Allen has created a minor gem. In short, a very pleasing effort from all concerned. Wayne is already an engaging personality.

This movie starts with a horse named Duke coming to the rescue of a man being bushwhacked. The man is cracked over the head and killed, so one of the robbers claims the horse went mad and attacked them. So the horse is put on trial for murder. I'm not kidding -- the horse is brought to town and put on trial in front of the whole town! Before he's sentenced to death, a cowboy (John Wayne) shows up and offers to ride the horse to prove he's not wild. After he does and saves Duke, the horse's owner (great character actor Henry B. Walthall) asks Wayne to help the town catch a masked bandit named the Hawk. The first of six B westerns Wayne made for WB in the early '30s. He was named John something-or-other in every movie and always had his horse Duke. They're routine westerns. Forgettable but watchable.

In the 1930s, John Wayne made a very long string of low-budget westerns. Despite their limitations, most of these films are pretty enjoyable for what they are--films to compete with series by the likes of Gene Autry and the like. And, compared to these other films, the Wayne films are generally a bit better. However, none of the films of this genre are high art--with often silly and tissue-thin plots but plenty of action.This film irritated me a bit, as you must accept the notion that everyone in the film has an IQ lower than a tomato's! Heck, Duke the Horse is MUCH smarter than everyone else in this silly film! You see this is one of the earliest scenes where Duke is on trial(!). He's accused of being vicious as he reacts horribly--at least around certain people. No one seems to notice that he is a gentle horse and only acts up around people who turn out to be evil! No one in town seems to know who the local villain, 'the Hawk', is, but Duke sure knows--and might pay for his life because of this! A bit later, it turns out that Wayne's character is also amazingly stupid. In a badly written scene, it's obvious to every single person in the audience (including the babies) that the guy in the desert with Wayne is the Hawk. Their conversation clearly lets you know that the guy is the Hawk and people in the audience were no-doubt yelling "it's the Hawk--don't trust him!". Yet, oddly, Wayne hands this evil man his guy to 'try it out' and low and behold, he takes Wayne prisoner!! And, for that matter, the Hawk isn't all that bright either, as he ties up Wayne and leaves him instead of just shooting him in the head! I guess the Hawk knew Wayne was the hero and, as such, was invulnerable! Later still, it's obvious that Wayne is a good guy. So what do the townsfolk do? Yep, they decide to hang him despite having almost no evidence!! And, when Wayne offers to give them proof that he's innocent, they ignore him! They also won't allow him to testify in court! What a bunch of poop-brains!! Is there lead in the water or something that might account for everyone being so incredibly stupid?! Perhaps there is a stupid gene and everyone here is related to each other! To make it even worse, a nice young lady learns who the Hawk really is and tells everyone in court who the Hawk is...and they STILL want to hang Wayne!! Overall, this is a pretty terrible film--even for a B-western. Wayne went on to make some very good Bs, but his early ones for Leon Schlesinger Studios were amazingly bad. This and "Haunted Gold" are two of these dreadful films he made with them and fortunately his films made just a few years later were much, much better--such as his Three Mesquiteers series. Any film that requires characters to be this dumb to make the plot work just isn't worth seeing--except for its value as comedy!!

This film was the first of a series of B westerns that John Wayne did for Warner Brothers and it was decided to give him a horse companion named Duke. Duke the horse was fine, the film left a lot to be desired.A horse is the only witness to a robbery where another witness was beaten unconscious and lies in a coma. He went after the villain and the villain who is masked bandit known as the Hawk says the horse is a mankiller who attacked him for no good reason. Since by day the villain is a respectable town citizen everyone believes him, almost.One of the almost is young cowpoke John Wayne who says he can tame the stallion and proceeds to do so. He even offers to track down the Hawk.It starts to get a little ridiculous here especially in the way that the villain gets the drop on Wayne. Of course in the tradition of Trigger, Champion, Topper, and Robert Taylor's horse Varick in Knights of the Round Table, Duke rescues his friend John Wayne. Doesn't that sound a little odd.Otis Harlan has a very funny bit as the country judge before whom Wayne is tried when he's accused of being the Hawk. And the villain does get a poetic ending.Still it's hardly one of John Wayne's best.