The Writer's Poke

I just watched The Fighting Westerner aka Rocky Mountain Mystery (1935) and gave it a 1-star rating for being almost unwatchable. So, I needed to watch another movie to cleanse my palette.  Unfortunately, I went with To the Last Man (1933), which somehow managed to be even worse.  Made in 1933, which is a few years after the end of the silent picture, this picture is so "silent." I couldn't believe it. Not only no musical score at all, but every time a new character came on the screen, their credits were put underneath them. Randolph Scott' actually doesn't just the film until about minute 25, and they're still adding the credits at that point in the film. It's a classic "feud" story. And it has, what? A Montagues and Capulets romance angle? I couldn't follow why Lynn (Scott) likes Ellen (Esther Ralston). I guess the heart likes what the heart likes, but I also get really tired of movies that must somehow end with a marriage. It's such a ...

Almost unwatchable. At least that's how I felt as I tried to watch this. And so, I go immediately to user reviews to see what the heck I'm missing, because a 2- or 3-star review should give me more insight into what I'm missing here. 2 or 3 stars should say, "Hey, this movie isn't that good, but it does have X going for it." I think the main X is just that it's a Randolph Scott flick, and so we give it an extra star for that, and maybe because an early Ann Sheridan is in it, too.  That's not enough for me.  Another reviewer did note the striking "Walter Brennan-like" acting ability of Charles 'Chic' Sale, who plays the Sheriff. And I would agree. He probably is my favorite character in the story. Otherwise, I had absolutely no interest in the story. Sadly, it's one of my least favorite movies for the entire year (of the 230 or so films that I've watched so far in 2026). 

After watching a couple of his 1930s films, I can confirm that Randolph Scott is much more "recognizable" as his more mature self in this 1940s film. I like the way everything in this story is split in two: Farmers vs. Cowboys is the main division, but the town is also divided. On one side, it's the church and businesses (civilization) on one side of the street, and the saloons on the other side.  Dan (Scott) is the town marshal. This gives him the obligation to patrol both sides. He also has a counterpart: Sheriff Trimble (Edgar Buchanan), representing the law for the county. Dan takes his job seriously. The Sheriff would rather play cards and stay out of trouble.  We have the two love interests: Sherry (Rhoda Fleming) on the church side, and Rita (Ann Dvorak) on the saloon side. Dan likes both of them, and they both like him. But Dan has a little more "saloon side" in him. He wants to represent the good guys, but he's willing to use his gun. He's also ...

Although I'm not a big fan of John Wayne's The Big Trail (1930), I rated both versions of that film 3/5 stars. Much better than whatever this is.  So Clint (Randolph Scott) and a couple other guides are set to take a wagon train west to Oregon. Nancy (Gail Patrick) wants to join the wagon train with her four-year old son. Her husband is dead, and Clint tells her no, her equipment isn't up to the journey, and neither is she. She gets some better equipment from another guy -- it's never really explained what he wanted from her or how much he charged her. Maybe he was just being nice.  Fortunately for the wagon train, there are no buffalo around to stampede, but at least there are Indians. They attack. It's hard to tell how far the wagon train had gone by this point, but they were crossing a bigger river, like maybe the Missouri. Maybe they've made it as far as that... Clint and the others are able to chase the Indians away, and they never come back. Nor do they ha...

I never considered myself a fan of Westerns growing up. That all changed in 1993 with the release of Tombstone. Before that, I just assumed that Westerns were all more or less like, well, Buffalo Stampede What do we have here? Randolph Scott in his 30s. A much different man than in his late 1950s films, for sure. Here he plays Tom. He does a couple of cool tricks making exits off his horse and a stagecoach. He likes Milly (Judith Allen), a gal that seems to be under the control of Mr. Jett (Noah Beery). The idea of the film is that white men want to slaughter buffalo and make a killing on the killing. At one point, the buffalo stampede. I guess Milly is endanger, but she's pretty capable of taking care of herself. Some of the white people are being attacked by Indians, too, who probably don't want the white people killing all the buffalo. The Indians only kill what they need. But other white people "stampede" in and chase the Indians off. And since this movie is only ...

At first, I thought: How did the boy learn to speak English (or any human language)? But it's a moot point. All the animals of the jungle speak English, of course. The problem with Mowgli the Man Cub is that he's growing up. The jungle is all he knows, and while some of the animals might be sad to see him go, he's certainly not safe in the jungle (actually, again, I have to wonder how the monkeys, tigers, or snakes didn't eat him before he reached "dangerous Man Cub status). But anyway... Does the movie have a plot? I read some reviews that poo-pooed the movie for not going anywhere, with the "journey to the village" not being a satisfactory goal. But I like the plot. We see different groups in the jungle interact with the boy, and, of course, they all get their songs. This movie has one of the most iconic Disney soundtracks, and to be honest, there's nothing like 1960 Disney animated films. Other reviewers don't like the lack of female characters...

Although the film begins with a brief written intro and puts names to the Reno boys, from there, it just jumps right into masses of men shooting and riding horses. I mean, I guess that's the popcorn eating "Western action" movie goers in the 1950s were looking for... but I need to care about who's shooting and riding. What's really at stake? What do these people want, but like I said, more importantly, why should I care? Four of the Reno boy are bad hombres. They basically run Seymour, Indiana, with corrupt elected officials providing cover. Special Agent James Barlow (Randolph Scott) is called into stop them. Since Bill Reno is gunned down in the opening sequence, they're down a man. Barlow's plan is to stage a train robbery and then win over the corrupt officials and Renos so he can infiltrate their organization. His plan goes off without a hitch. The Renos also have another, good brother, Clint (Denver Pyle), and a good sister, Laura (Mala Powers). They...

The more movies I watch, the more I'm amazed at the number of movies that I somehow have never heard of. Movies come and go so quicky, and it seems like if they don't latch on and make an impression quickly, they are sometimes never discovered. The Golden Compass seems to be one of those forgotten films, even though it received a 4/4 rating from Roger Ebert when it was first released. (Maybe there's a reason some films are forgotten... see below.) The basic premise is pretty cool. We live in a multiverse, but there's no real way to "prove" it, let alone travel to parallel universes. In the movie, people's souls live in "spirit animals" that travel with them outside their bodies. The spirit animals of children have the ability to change, only locking into one specific form upon adulthood. Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) has a plan to prove the existence of parallel universes, and even to travel to one. The Powers That Be would rather this not happen. A...