Thu 10 Dec 2015
Two Western Movie Reviews: SAGEBRUSH LAW (1943) and BEAU BANDIT (1930).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[6] Comments
SAGEBRUSH LAW. RKO Radio Pictures, 1943. Tim Holt, Cliff Edwards, Joan Barclay, John H. Elliott, Roy Barcroft. Director: Sam Nelson.
BEAU BANDIT. Radio Pictures, 1930. Rod La Rocque, Doris Kenyon, Mitchell Lewis, Tom Keene (as George Duryea), Walter Long, Charles B. Middleton, James Donlan. Director: Lambert Hillyer.
Here are a couple of old western movies I taped off AMC over 20 years ago, back when AMC showed older movies without commercials and several years before TCM came along. It was by far my favorite cable channel at the time, whether the movies were classics or not.
And neither of these two films are, to be honest with you, and neither is worthy of a full write-up (nor a short one, either, but what the hey). Tim Holt made a lot of B-western movies in the 40s, maybe almost 50 of them, but I never saw a one of them, growing up. I don’t know why they were never shown in my small home town, but as far as I recall, they never were.
In Sagebrush Law, he has to clear his dad’s name as a banker who supposedly committed suicide after fearing he’d be caught stealing from his bank. Using the wrong hand, no less.
Holt may have been the most handsome of the good guy western heroes, but what he didn’t seem to have was the onscreen charisma of either a Hoppy or a Roy or even a Gene, nor is the story any deeper than what I’ve just outlined. Cliff Edwards as his sidekick contributes a couple of songs, but needlessly so, and Joan Barclay is barely seen, and never in closeup.
In Beau Bandit Rod La Rocque and a horrible pseudo-Spanish accent play a charming Mexican bandit in full Robin Hood mode, acting as a middle man in a romance that the local banker wishes to break up. This early talkie is acceptable fare, even today, but no more, and then only if your ears can make some accommodation for the accent.
December 10th, 2015 at 3:58 pm
I remember when I used to watch AMC all the time also. Then they ruined the films with commercials and I stopped. One time over a period of several days, they showed dozens of film noir which I taped and watched later.
December 10th, 2015 at 4:44 pm
I still have old tapes with AMC stuff on them, but for some reason I’ve never seen a Tim Holt Western and I understand some of them are pretty good..
December 10th, 2015 at 5:14 pm
It could be that the Tim Holt westerns got better as the series went along. If I’d taken into consideration that this movie was filmed in 1943 and compared it with other B-movie westerns of the same year, maybe my opinion of it would have higher.
I have discovered that my old VHS tapes have held up very well. I taped both movies on June 17, 1991, and after keeping the cassette in the basement ever since, I didn’t see any sign of the tape going bad when I watched both of the two movies last week.
December 10th, 2015 at 7:19 pm
The Holt series with the Hispanic sidekick he did post war weren’t bad B westerns of their sort. Ironically of the B movie actors, he was probably the only one who might have had a career as an actor based on his roles in AMBERSONS and SIERRA MADRE.
I suspect La Rocque was cast because he resembled Warner Baxter who had done IN OLD ARIZONA and IN OLD CALIFORNIA. His talkie career was never much, though he had a brief silent career as a leading man, even playing Bulldog Drummond in the action comedy CAPTAIN JACK, an American Drummond film that didn’t use the Sapper character’s name.
Of course he was Lamont Cranston, the Shadow in two films that have had more play in the video era than they ever got in their own time period.
December 11th, 2015 at 12:19 am
I’ve seen many of the Tim Holt B-westerns and critics say that they are among the very best of that type. However, I’ve found them to be less interesting than some of the other series. Warner Archive has put out many if not all on dvd.
December 11th, 2015 at 2:35 pm
The Holt Westerns show up regularly on TCM, usually on Saturdays. Production values are usually high on them though, and they tend to be straight Westerns with no musical interludes and minor comedy relief from his companion.