Last night's Western was directed by A-lister Henry Hathaway, and was a different kind of story from the cowboys and crooks plots we've been watching. Entitled "To the Last Man"(1933), it's the saga of a family feud that dates back to the end of the Civil War. "Mark Hayden" (Egon Brecher) has just been discharged from the Confederate army and is heading home to his farm in Kentucky. He tells a comrade he never wants to hear another gunshot in his life, or see any more bloodshed. The war was a horror: he just wants to live in peace. But there's been a feud between his family and the neighboring Colbys for many years, and when Mark returns home, his Dad (Grandpa Hayden) is shot dead by "Jed Colby" (Noah Beery) while out rabbit hunting with his ten year old grandson Lynn (Mark's son). Jed Colby is a craggy s.o.b., and ruthless. He thinks of nothing but his hatred of the Haydens. Mark Hayden's adult son "Bill" (Buster Crabbe) and his son-in-law "Neil Stanley" (Barton MacLane), want revenge and offer to kill Jed, but Mark says no. "I don't want an eye for an eye. We'll tell the Sheriff and Jed will face the consequences legally". Jed Colby is then arrested and ends up spending fifteen years in prison for the murder of Grandpa Hayden.
But as much as Mark Hayden wishes to remain a pacifist, the Colbys are not gonna make it easy for him. The family is furious that papa Jed has been imprisoned, and Jed has a henchman named "Jim Daggs" (Jack La Rue) who's even more ruthless than he is. Daggs is in fact a psycho who's plotting against the Colbys also, with plans to steal their land.
Now we fast forward 15 years : Jed Colby is out of prison, and little "Lynn Hayden" is now a grown man (cue the choir : Randol-hollf Scott!). He's out riding around one day and sees "Ellen Colby" (Esther Ralston) swimming au-naturel in the local pond. He takes a fancy to her, and they hit it off. We already know her as a rowdy, bronco-busting lass, who answers to no one, not even papa Jed. When Grandma Hayden finds out that Lynn is seeing Ellen, she has a fit. "That girl is white trash!" Actress Ralston plays her this way, and because it's a pre-Code movie, the character is raw so it feels like a modern performance. Anyhow, Lynn is not supposed to be seeing Ellen, and the budding relationship is over anyway when she finds out he's a Hayden. "Get away from me", she screams. "I never want to see you again."
The feud continues to simmer, and Jim Diggs gradually takes control of the Colby's strategy, supplanting Jed as the shot caller. Bill Hayden gets ambushed and is sent home dead on his horse, in a horrific scene which depicts how they must have done such a deed in reality (he's dead, but his body is propped up with a tree branch, so from a distance it looks like he's alive and sitting on his horse. Cinematically speaking, this is some truly spooky and grisly stuff.)
Now that Bill is dead, Mark Hayden finally starts to re-consider his pacifism. He decides to fight back and arms every remaining member of his family including the women. The romance between Lynn Hayden and Ellen Colby, and their resulting breakup, takes up much of the middle section of the movie. Shirley Temple has an uncredited role as one of Barton MacLane's children. She gets substantial screentime in a five minute segment where the families are in a shootout, and cries on cue, showing the talent that made her a mega-star not two years later.
The cast in total is outstanding. Check it out: Randolph Scott, Buster Crabbe, Barton MacLane, Noah Beery, Jack La Rue (who steals the show), Shirley Temple, and the beautiful and talented Esther Ralston (who was nicknamed "The American Venus"). Even Fuzzy Knight has a small role as Mark Hayden's war buddy. Filmed at Big Bear, the scenery and photography are spectacular, and there is a great anecdote on IMDB, told by director Hathaway, about Shirley Temple and an ornery mule that tried to kick her on set. When the "take" was over, four year old Shirley went and kicked the mule in return. Two Huge Thumbs Up for "To the Last Man", which has the effort of an A-list film, though it was probably a minor release. In an odd detail, the opening credits appear as each actor is introduced in the movie, and they continue to the 23 minute mark. Highly recommended, the picture is razor sharp. ////
The previous night, we were involved in another range war in Tom Tyler's "Tracy Rides"(1935). This time it's between the cattlemen and the sheepherders, and as the movie opens, a drunken "Ned Hampton" (Edmund Cobb), leading a band of cattle ranchers, is harassing "Pop Jenkins" (Harry S. Webb, the film's director), leader of the sheepmen. Hampton starts by firing his pistol repeatedly, causing Pop's sheep to run away. Then his henchmen fire on the remaining sheep, killing them. If that weren't enough, the cattle ranchers set fire to Pop's house, burning it to the ground. Pop manages to run inside and grab his rifle, but Ned shoots him in the back before he can defend himself. Pop dies just as "Sheriff Tracy" (Tom Tyler) rides in, having seen the smoke. He knew he was heading into trouble, and now it's even worse because he has to arrest Ned for murder, and Ned was about to become his brother in law. Sheriff Tracy is engaged to Ned's sister "Molly" (Virginia Brown Faire), but when he shows up at the Hampton house, looking for Ned, and announces that he has to arrest him for murder, Molly and her Dad (Charles K. French) turn against Tracy, saying that he's siding with those rotten sheepmen, whose flocks are eating all the grass and drinking the water holes dry.
That's what these particular range wars were all about. The cattlemen were there first, but when the sheepmen moved onto the land, quite legally, their animals ate all the grass (which is why in England they have sheep do brush clearance to prevent fires; sheep can pound grass). And because the sheep ate all the grass, leaving nothing for the cattle, you could say that the sheepmen were in the wrong for not respecting the cattle ranchers' grazing rights. However, you could also say that the cattle ranchers had no right to take the law into their own hands and, in this case, kill Pop Jenkins. So it's a standoff, and Sheriff Tracy is in the middle. He hates to have to arrest Ned Hampton, because he's gonna marry his sister, but he has to arrest him because Ned has admitted he killed Pop Jenkins. In fact he's proud of it because Pop was a sheepman. But when Tracy is about to take him away, Ned gets the drop on him and shoots him in the shoulder. It should be noted that the "shoulder shot" is an oft-used trick in Westerns, when characters shoot it out but the plot requires that no one die. It allows for the shot person - good guy or bad guy - to realicecooperate and then plan a retaliation against the man who shot him. In Tracy's case, even with a wounded shoulder he manages to capture Ned Hampton and handcuff him inside a shack on the Hampton property. The sheepmen demand to know where Ned is, so they can hang him for killing Pop Jenkins. Tracy says no, he's gotta have a fair trial. Molly now hates Tracy, because she's loyal to her brother and Dad (and the cattle family business) but deep down, she's knows her brother is guilty, and deep down she also loves Sheriff Tracy, so she pretends to hate him, but when he comes looking for care of his shoulder, she stitches him up, then hides him (literally) under her mattress (not under the bed) when her Dad and Ned come looking for him.
Finally, when the cattlemen's beeves need water, they have no choice but to run the herd through the sheepmen's land. But the sheepmen say they wont co-alicecooper-operate unless Ned is turned over to them. Molly begs Tracy: "Please don't! They'll kill Ned!" He agrees, and even though Ned's an evil guy, he won't turn him over because he doesn't capitulate to mob justice. But then, to get the Hamptons to give up Ned, the sheepmen kidnap Molly Hampton. Now Sheriff Tracy is in a bind because he loves Molly. He's hoping to avoid an all out war, but Dad Hampton won't release Ned to the sheepmen, who have his daughter Molly, and Dad also needs the sheepmen's cooperation to allow his cattle through their land for water. But the sheepmen won't help him unless he gives up Ned. Dad Hampton says he'll stampede his cattle through, if necessary. The sheepmen say if you do, we'll kill Molly. Oy, what a nightmare for Sheriff Tracy.
He tries negotiating a peace, but it's only gonna happen if Dad gives up Ned and Ned gets a fair trial. Then, the gal who's guarding Molly lets her go. It's a girl thing; she's sick of the tension and violence between all the men, and she lets Molly go because none of this is the women's fault. But Molly has to escape on foot, because her horse has been run off, and the cattle stampede happens just as she's escaping. This makes for a white knuckle finale as the actress playing Molly literally has to do a Running of the Bulls to escape the stampede. It's spectacularly filmed, and Tom Tyler rides into the middle of the stampede (a million cows hauling ass, en masse) to rescue her. It's incredible stuff, and gets Two Big Thumbs Up. Filmed, as always for Tom Tyler movies, at the Jaugueri and Walker Ranches in Placerita Canyon. The picture is good but a tad soft. ////
That's all for tonight. I hope your weekend was a good one. I'm listening to "Up the Down Stair" by Porcupine Tree, and I send you Tons of Love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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