Bob McKenzie Movies

The second in a series of Buck Jones westerns produced by Sol Lesser for Columbia release, Shadow Ranch is the story of a cowboy who comes to the rescue of an embattled female rancher (Marguerite de la Motte). She is being driven off her land by opportunistic saloon owner Albert J. Smith, but the heroic Buck manages to beat the villain into submission. Filmed at the Tiffany-California studios, a rental facility, Shadow Ranch was popular enough for the story to be trotted out again less than a year later as Sunset Trail starring Ken Maynard. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Cimarron was the first Western to win the Oscar for Best Picture--and, until Dances with Wolves in 1990, the only one. The film begins on April 22, 1889, the opening day of the great Oklahoma Land Rush on the Cherokee Strip. Boisterous Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) is cheated out of his land claim by the devious Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor). Instead of becoming a homesteader, Cravat establishes a muckraking newspaper, and with pistols in hand he becomes a widely respected (and widely feared) peacekeeper. He also displays a compassionate streak by coming to the defense of Dixie Lee, who is about to be arrested for prostitution. Cravat's insistence on sticking his nose into everyone's affairs drives a wedge between him and his young wife Sabra (Irene Dunne), but she stands by him--until he deserts her and her children, ever in pursuit of new adventures. Sabra takes over the newspaper herself, and with the moral support of her best friend, Mrs. Wyatt (Edna May Oliver), she creates a powerful publishing empire. Cimarron makes the mistake of placing most of the action early in the film, so that everything that follows the spectacular opening land-rush sequence may feel anti-climactic. While it's always enjoyable to watch Irene Dunne persevering through the years, it's rather wearing to sit through the overblown performance of Richard Dix, who seems to think that he can't make a point unless it's at the top of his lungs. Cimarron creaks badly when seen today, but it still outclasses the plodding 1960 remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Robust silent screen cowboy Art Acord played "Side Show" Saunders, a dog and pony show operator who takes a job as a store clerk in this average Universal "Blue Streak Western." At the general store, Saunders gets acquainted with lovely Holly Farrell (Olive Hasbrouck), so much so, in fact, that Holly's fiancée, Burke Tanner (Claude Payton), takes umbrage. Well aware of a possibly rich strike at Holly's Queen Mine, Tanner lures Saunders to a deserted hut, leaving the clerk bound and gagged to starve to death. The irrepressible Saunders, however, manages to alert his former co-stars, the horse Buddy and the dog Rex, who loosen a boulder which smashes into the hut thereby freeing Side Show. With not a moment to spare, Saunders arrives at the Queen Mine to save Holly from the evil Tanner. One of the young cowboys appearing in this film, Curley Witzel, showed so much promise that Universal starred him in a series of Western 2-reelers. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This Jack Hoxie Western, made during his contract with Universal, has just about every cliché in the book, beginning with the inevitable feud between the cowmen and the sheepmen. Nevertheless, trade magazine Motion Picture News promised, "Will fill the bill wherever fast Westerners please 'em." Peace Parker (Hoxie) has been falsely jailed, and when he is released he resolves to track down whoever framed him. But his bad luck isn't over yet -- he hears that his girl, Jess Marshall (Lola Todd), has become engaged to another man. Parker finds out that the sheepmen have a plot to drive their herds onto the ranch land belonging to Jess' father (Clarke Comstock). Jess is kidnapped and Parker goes to her rescue. He discovers that she still loves him, and he goes on to defeat the sheepherders at their dirty game and clear his own name in the bargain. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Poverty row entrepreneur Ben Wilson both produced and starred in this fanciful silent Western also featuring Charles Chaplin's first wife, Mildred Harris. Wilson played a cowboy falsely accused of killing the local sheriff (Leon de la Mothe, who also directed). Fleeing the law, Wilson obtains a job on Harris' ranch. The nasty foreman (Yakima Canutt) threatens to blow the whistle on the fugitive, but Wilson manages to capture the real culprit and clear his own name. Mildred Harris used the appellation of "Chaplin" long after her 1920 divorce. More a personality than an actress, she left Hollywood in favor of vaudeville at the advent of sound. She later returned and played unbilled bit parts. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this very slight comedy Western, hero Ned Underwood (William Fairbanks) goes undercover as a dishwasher on a ranch in order to put a stop to a series of cattle rustlings. The leader of the rustlers is actually the ranch foreman (Monte Montague), a fact which is obvious to even the youngest viewers long before Fairbanks and comedy sidekick Billy Franey finally catch on. A minor action star of the late silent period, Fairbanks (real name Carl Ullman) was quickly forgotten after the changeover to sound; so forgotten, in fact, that Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (no relation, of course) claimed in an interview that he had never heard of him. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Prolific supporting actor Olin Francis earned a rare starring role in this silent comedy western about a bashful cowboy who becomes a hero after rescuing the ranch owner's pretty daughter (Estelle Harrison). Although usually cast as an unshaven henchman, the pudgy Francis actually made an appealing hero reminiscent of Universal's lackadaisical Hoot Gibson. The producer-director of this little opus was busy poverty-row denizen Robert McKenzie who saw fit to cast his little daughter, Fay, in a bit part. Fay McKenzie would later grow into a pert western heroine who often appeared opposite Gene Autry. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide