Border Vengeance (1935)

I am going to say something that is not very nice, but it's something you will undoubtedly see when you see "Border Vengeance". The people starring in this film are really ugly. I think it's because this was made by a microscopic production company and they simply put anyone in the roles that they could find. Acting and screen presence just didn't seem to be very important. As a result, Reb Russell (an All-American football player) is given nothing in the way of support. In other words, they took a non-actor and threw him into a western with lots of other non-actors and the results are pretty grim.

The film begins with a rancher being shot and killed by a shooter whose identity the audience cannot see. This occurs while the dead man's cattle are being stolen. In the next scene, a lynch mob is planning on catching those responsible but they really do not know who did it. Then a surly looking guy who is obviously a villain says he saw Muley (Russell) and his family do the killing and the mob runs amok. But, Muley's girlfriend runs to warn him and they make a clean getaway to Mexico. However, Muley returns and dispenses a bit of 'frontier justice' on the jerk who blamed him for the murder.

Five years pass. Now Muley is a rodeo cowboy performing under a new name. During this portion, TONS of archival footage of rodeo is shown--and it's very grainy filler. Frankly, it is all very boring as it just goes on and on. Suddenly he receives word that he's needed back home--and we are thrilled because it might just mean SOMETHING will happen in the film! It turns out some baddies are harassing the ranchers and his old girlfriend has contacted him for help. Is it worth wading through HALF the film to get to this conflict? Nope.

Overall, this is one of the worst westerns I've seen--and the only worse western I can think of off the talk of my head is "The Terror of Tiny Town"--the world's first all-midget western.