Buck Jones Movies
Born in Indiana, Charles "Buck" Jones was raised in Montana, where he trained himself to be an expert rider and roper. After serving in the U.S. Cavalry, he joined the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show as a trick rider, and later performed with the Ringling Bros. circus. Entering films as a stunt double in 1917, he was promoted to his own starring series at Fox Studios two years later. Appearing onscreen with his horse Silver, Jones quickly became one of the most popular Western stars of the 1920s. When Westerns went into a brief eclipse in the early talkie era, he was "demoted" to low-budget Columbia Pictures, where he continued appearing in high-grossing horse operas and occasional "straight" dramatic films until 1936. He then spent a few seasons at Universal as star, producer, and occasional director. At the peak of his popularity in the 1930s, when his Buck Jones Rangers club boasted five million youthful members, at one point he was receiving more fan mail than Clark Gable. When his career began slipping again in 1940, he signed with Monogram, where he co-starred with Tim McCoy and Raymond Hatton in the money-spinning Rough Riders series. On November 30, 1942, Jones was guest of honor at a party given by his producer/manager Scott R. Dunlap at the Cocoanut Grove night club in Boston when a fire broke out in the kitchen. According to some reports, Jones attempted to escape along with all the others when the fire spread to the main room; other sources claim that he valiantly insisted upon reentering the blazing inferno to rescue the guests still trapped inside. Whatever the circumstances, the end result was the same: Jones perished in the Cocoanut Grove fire along with nearly 500 others. Married to the same woman for 27 years, Buck Jones was the father of a daughter named Maxine, who married actor Noah Beery Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1930
Returning to Gunsight, AZ, from World War II, Buck Healy (Buck Jones) finds that his younger brother Tom (Thomas Carr) has fallen in with an outlaw gang lead by Murdock (Harry Woods). The latter frames Buck in the robbery of Francisco Del Rey (Hector Sarno), a Mexican rancher whose son (Donald Reed) Buck had saved on the battlefield. Don Francisco's daughter, Juanita (Carmelita Geraghty), is kidnapped along the way, but Buck heroically affects her release and earns her love. Men Without Law was the third of eight Buck Jones Westerns produced by Sol Lesser for release by Columbia Pictures, who took over all production chores thereafter. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Harry Woods, (more)
- 1930
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
- 1928
In one of his final Westerns for the Fox company, Buck Jones promises his dying foster-father, "Honest" John Maggert (Stanton Heck), that he will return the cattle that Maggert rustled from the local ranchers. Not only does Jones live up to his promise, he manages to rescue his foster-brother (Jack Baston) from a life of vice in the process. Veteran director Lambert Hillyer knew how to pace films such as The Branded Sombrero, and Jones once again proved what a fine actor he really was. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Leila Hyams, (more)
- 1927
Starring Buck Jones, Fox's second-string cowboy hero, this fine silent Western featured a group of Basque settlers terrorized by a greedy land baron (Joseph W. Girard). Jones played Buck Kildare, who, after falling for Basque beauty Natalie Joyce, comes to the aid of the settlers. On his sterling horse Silver, Kildare goes after the villain, who, it turns out, is the very same man who murdered his brother Tom (William A. Steele). A 1925 WAMPAS baby star, leading lady Natalie Joyce also supported the studio's top cowboy star, Tom Mix -- twice, in fact, in both The Circus Ace (1927) and Daredevil's Reward (1928). Whispering Sage was based on a 1922 novel by Harry Sinclair Drago and Joseph Noel. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Natalie Joyce, (more)
- 1927
Based on "The Owner of the Aztec", a 1926 magazine story by Murray Leinster, this typical silent Buck Jones Western presented Jones as Buck Brady, the son of a prospector whose valuable claim was stolen when Buck was a child. Brady grows up with revenge on his mind and retaliates by holding up the mine's payroll messengers. Until, that is, he falls in love with Janet Laurier (Frances Lee), the new owner. Forgetting all about revenge, Buck helps the girl defeat Tilford (Carl Miller), the mine's crooked foreman. The final battle is fought on a moving car that eventually careens over the inevitable cliff. Leading lady Frances Lee was a red-headed WAMPAS Baby Star of 1927 who resembled Fox star Nancy Carroll, a fact that shortened her career considerably. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Frances Lee, (more)
- 1927
When cowboy Buck Thomas' (Buck Jones) beloved horse Silver is "drafted" into the Cavalry during WWI, Buck loyally joins up as well. Both master and horse eventually find themselves on the battlefields of France, where Buck's outfit is slated to be wiped out in a surprise attack by a German raiding party. Riding his horse across enemy lines, Buck manages to halt the ambush and capture the boche. In so doing, he wins the love of dimpled Red Cross nurse Audrey Evans (Lola Todd). One of the best of the Buck Jones silents, War Horse was co-scripted by Jones and director Lambert Hillyer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Lola Todd, (more)
- 1927
Buck Jones stars as Buck Laramie, an itinerant cowpoke who wanders into a wide-open frontier town. Heroine Ellen Wade (Georgia Hale) has been unsuccessful in driving liquor and gambling out of the community, but with Buck's help she finally manages to make some headway. This does not rest well with the town mayor, who's secretly in cahoots with a bootlegging gang. When the sheriff is "mysteriously" killed, Buck takes the lawman's place, trailing the villains to their hideaway (which turns out to be a mine shaft owned by the unsuspecting Ellen) and beating them to a pulp. Hills of Peril represents one of the few appearances of Georgia Hale after she was discovered by Charlie Chaplin for The Gold Rush (1925). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Georgia Hale, (more)
- 1927
A simple but well-received silent Western, this film starred popular Buck Jones as a young rancher tracking down the rustler (Jack Baston) who stole his herd of purebred horses. Jones' leading lady in this film, Diane Ellis (here for some reason billed "Dione Ellis"), was a blonde newcomer from Los Angeles who would tragically succumb to a rare tropical disease while honeymooning in India in December of 1930. Chain Lightning was a remake of The Brass Commandments (1923), which was also from Fox and which starred the veteran William Farnum. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1927
Rancher Buck Jones goes undercover as a ranch hand on his own spread in this fairly well-paced silent Western, the last under the star's contract with Fox. A gang of land grabbers has taken over the place, led by the ubiquitous crooked foreman (Robert Kortman), but Buck prevails and wins the lovely Kathryn Perry in the process. Playing Perry's brother is young Austin Jewell, a bespectacled kid actor who later became secretary to Columbia czar Harry Cohn and, later still, production manager of films such as Terms of Endearment (1983). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Katherine Perry, (more)
- 1927
Buck Jones stars as Black Jack, a clever if somewhat larcenous gambler who finds willing suckers wherever he goes. After cleaning out the participants of a poker game (with only 17 cents to his name!), Black Jack is chased out of town by the local "reformers." While on the lam, he meets heroine Barbara Bennett, who owns one of three pieces of a coin which, when joined together, will reveal the location of a lost gold mine. Black Jack spends the rest of the picture protecting the girl from the villains, who'd give -- and do -- anything to get their mitts on that precious coin. Leading lady Barbara Bennett was the sister of Joan and Constance Bennett, the wife of singer Morton Downey, and the mother of talk-show host Morton Downey Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Barbara Bennett, (more)
- 1926
Energetic cowboy Buck Jones is almost swindled out of his valuable land in this above-average silent Western produced by Fox. Like most Westerns of the era, the film was contemporary in setting and featured automobiles, trains and even motorcycles. There's gold in them thar hills and Buck must fight the unscrupulous Lloyd Whitlock and his various henchmen to keep it safe. There is a girl waiting with open arms back in Los Angeles and when her father finally changes his mind about Buck's suitability as husband material, the scene is set for a happy ending. Leading lady Sally Long was a former Ziegfeld girl who, along with Joan Crawford, Fay Wray and Mary Astor, was voted a 1926 WAMPAS Baby Star by the Hollywood publicists. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Sally Long, (more)
- 1926
Based on Dark Rosaleen, a serialized novel by Max Brand (pen name of Frederick Faust), this fine silent Western starred a young Buck Jones as Mark Winton, a wanderer who takes up the cause of a band of ragamuffin's bullied by nasty loan shark Bert Ridley (Walter Percival). In between buying the youngsters Boy Scout uniforms, the irrepressible Winton comes to the aid of lovely rancher June Savary (Gladys McConnell), whose father (Bruce Covington) is in financial trouble because of Ridley. Framed for murder by the villain, Mark breaks out of jail, saves the girl's ranch and brings the villain to justice, teaching the kids a valuable lesson along the way. The Flying Horseman was directed by a gentleman bearing the less encouraging name of Orville O. Dull. It is a safe bet that the producer, Fox, did not advertise this Western as "a Dull picture!" ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones
- 1926
With Tom Mix already having explored Arabia, it was only natural that Fox's other cowboy star, Buck Jones, should visit the mythical kingdom of Belgravia. The vehicle was The Cowboy and the Countess, in which Jones played a carefree range devil (as the film's press material put it), who rescues visiting Countess Justina of Belgravia (Helena D'Algy) from a car wreck. Visiting Belgravia with their Wild West show, Jones and his horse Wild Eagle grab yet another opportunity to save Her Highness, this time from the scheming Duke de Milos. A well-known concert singer, Helena D'Algy had made her screen debut in the Pauline Frederick drama Let Not man Put Asunder (1924). She looked good in period costumes and was highly visible in romantic vehicles such as Confessions of a Queen (1925) and Don Juan (1926). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Diana Miller, (more)
- 1926
One of American Western star Buck Jones' finest silents, A Man Four-Square is a screen version of William McLeod Raine's popular tale of a rancher who finds himself falsely accused of murder while attempting to help a friend in need. Jones, needless to say, not only saves his friend (two-reel Western lead William E. Lawrence), but vindicates himself and gets the girl (Marion Harlan). This fast-paced Western marked the first of many screen encounters between Jones and the always hissable Harry Woods. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1926
Based on a 1921 story by Jackson Gregory, this silent Western starred Buck Jones as Montgomery Wilson Fitzsmith, a roaming cowboy who comes to the aid of a beleaguered group of Desert Valley ranchers who are fighting an unscrupulous capitalist, Jefferson Hoades (Malcolm Waite). Hoades has cornered the valley's costly water supply, but before Fitzsmith can join the side of the righteous, he most prove himself innocent of stealing a pie. With sheriff's deputy Eugene Pallette in hot pursuit, our hero encounters Mildred Dean (Virginia Brown Faire), whose father (J.W. Johnston), is put on trial for breaking the water pipeline. Fitzsmith gallops back to town and proves that the real culprit is Hoades. A chase ensues, and Fitzsmith bests the evil Hoades in a well-staged fistfight. Having signed with Fox in 1919, Buck Jones would become that studio's runner-up to the great Tom Mix. By the mid 1920s, Jones was almost rivaling Mix's popularity, having adopted a less flamboyant but still pleasing style of his own. Jones' stardom lasted until his tragic death in a Boston nightclub fire in 1942. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Virginia Brown Faire, (more)
- 1926
Once again the battle between cattle ranchers and encroaching sheep farmers takes center stage in a silent western, this time with an added touch of Romeo and Juliet. Returning from college, Wils McCann (Buck Jones discovers that the long-standing feud between his family and their neighbors is actually the fault of the nasty Martin brothers. In love with neighbor girl Julia Starke (Florence Gilbert), Wils succeeds in setting the record straight and disarming the villainous brothers. This average western benefitted by an unusually strong cast that included Canadian-born flapper star Pauline Garon, as Julia's sister and the wonderfully hammy Montagu Love as one of the nasty Martin brothers. Love is perhaps best remembered as the lecherous stranger killed by Lillian Gish in the late silent masterpiece The Wind. Although far from original, The Desert's Price was remade twice, as The Ivory Handled Gun (1935), again starring Jones, and as Law of the Range (1941), featuring Johnny Mack Brown. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Florence Gilbert, (more)
- 1926
Comedy and thrills are doled out in equal measure in the Buck Jones western The Gentle Cyclone. The story is motivated by a long-standing feud, which comes to a head when each of the warring families tries to adopt an orphan girl who is about to receive a huge inheritance. Into the fray comes a cowboy named Wales (Buck Jones), who tries to put an end to the feud -- and line his own pocket -- by adopting the girl himself. When he discovers that the "child" is actually a full-grown woman (Rose Blossom), and a real looker at that, Wales begins entertaining thoughts of matrimony -- but the picture isn't over just yet. Stealing the show from the hero and heroine is Oliver Hardy playing a bucolic sheriff -- still a year or so away from his teaming with Stan Laurel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rose Blossom, Buck Jones, (more)
- 1925
Buck Jones and Elinor Fair starred in this average Fox western directed by future MGM ace Woody S. Van Dyke. Jones plays a lumber man, the Timber Wolf, who comes to the aid of an old prospector, Joe Terry (Sam Allen). Terry has hit pay dirt and is besieged by villains, including the notorious Babe Deveril (David Dyas). Babe instructs an accomplice, Reenee (Fair), to seduce the Timber Wolf into telling her the location of the secret mine. Instead, the two fall in love, and Reenee betrays her former boss. The trade-paper Variety praised the film as "a very fair western on the strength of the constant action." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Elinor Fair, (more)
- 1925
Charles "Buck" Jones, normally a heroic Western star, takes a surprising turn by playing a shiftless rural character in this romance. ZaSu Pitts also makes an impression in her tragic role (she was better known as a comedienne than as a dramatic actress, but she was great at both). Jones' character is known only as Lazybones because of his easy-going nature. He is in love with Agnes Fanning (Jane Novak), but their romance is derailed when her sister, Ruth (Pitts), comes home with a baby. Ruth claims that she was wed to a sailor who had drowned, but can't produce a marriage certificate. This brings down a world of shame on the hapless young girl, so she attempts suicide. Lazybones rescues her and adopts the baby girl. He refuses to give the infant up, so he loses Agnes. Ruth dies, and as the years pass, the little girl Kit grows into a lovely young lady (as played by Madge Bellamy). Lazybones goes off to fight in WWI, and when he returns, he plans to marry his ward. But then he discovers that Kit loves a young man who is much closer to her own age. Although Lazybones loses out, there is a hint that he and Agnes may reunite. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Madge Bellamy, (more)
- 1925
The Fox company signed young Carole Lombard (billing her "Carol") to a contract after she tested for and won the female lead opposite Edmund Lowe in Marriage in Transit (1925). This average Buck Jones western was her follow-up. Carole plays a young prairie flower whose brother (Freeman Wood) is on a path to a life of crime. Along comes cowboy Jones, who gallantly takes the blame for a killing to save Carole's brother. Lombard suffered a near-fatal car accident shortly after finishing this film, returning to Fox after months of recuperation only to find her contract cancelled. Happily, she was immediately signed up by Mack Sennett, who obviously knew what he was doing. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Carole Lombard, (more)
- 1925
To spite her domineering father, Eastern girl Lucy Fox pursues an unsuitable suitor to a small Western hamlet where she obtains a job as a manicurist. A local rancher (Buck Jones), who has fallen for the girl, does his best to persuade her not too marry the bounder. She is determined, however, and leaves town with the man. The rancher, in a final heroic gesture, leaps from his horse to the speeding train and declares his undying love for the girl, who finally accepts. More a romantic comedy than a true western, this silent film's only interesting aspect is the name of the unsuitable suitor: "John Wayne"! ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buck Jones, Maine Geary, (more)
- 1925
A remake of a 1917 Dustin Farnum Western, Durand of the Bad Lands starred Buck Jones in the title role, a rancher falsely accused of a crime actually committed by Sheriff Clem Allison (Malcolm Waite) and his henchman Pete Garson (Fred De Silva). In his attempt to clear himself, Durand comes across a couple of orphaned children (Buck Black and Seesel Ann Johnson), the survivors of a stagecoach robbery. With the children in tow, Durand seeks shelter at the ranch belonging to Molly Gore (Marian Nixon), who at first spurns him. She changes her mind, however, after Duran saves Banker John Boyd's (George Lessey) daughter (Carole Lombard) from being molested by the evil Allison and his henchman. Lombard (whose first name was still spelled "Carol") had just signed with Fox when she appeared in this film, one of several potboilers that she would make before leaving the studio in favor of comedy king Mack Sennett. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1925
The Fox company, who championed Buck Jones as Western star Tom Mix's possible heir, began cutting back a bit with Gold and the Girl. Jones was popular enough, but by 1925, there was a glut on the market due to scores of cheaply made independent Westerns. This time around, Jones plays Dan Prentiss, a special undercover agent hired by a mining company to look into a series of gold-shipment robberies. On the job, Prentiss falls for lovely Ann Donald (Elinor Fair), whose uncle Sam (Alphonse Ethier) is the partner of outlaw leader Bart Colton (Bruce Gordon). The hero sets a trap for the villains, who, nevertheless, manage to flee into the hills. Sam, however, is wounded and commits suicide rather than face a jail sentence. Colton is apprehended, and Prentiss and Ann can enjoy a rosy future together. According to one reviewer, this substandard Jones Western was "produced economically and with a supporting cast that never supports." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1924
Fox's also-ran cowboy star Buck Jones played a prospector falsely accused of murder in this silent Western, which benefitted from an above average supporting cast. Along with a fellow inmate, Jones escapes from prison. Hiding out with his newfound buddy's sister (Evelyn Brent), Jones manages not only to clear his own name but also to obtain a pardon from the governor for his friend. Playing the hero's young sidekick was William Haines (then spelling his last name "Haynes"), a perky young actor who made quite a name for himself in light comedy roles at MGM in the late 1920s. Haines retired from acting soon after the changeover to sound, becoming instead Hollywood's most fashionable interior designer. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles "Buck" Jones, Evelyn Brent, (more)
- 1924
This is a rather confusing silent Western melodrama in which Jack Mills (Buck Jones) comes to the aid of a friend, Bud Loupel (William Scott), who has robbed a bank to keep up his house payments. Idiotically, Jack helps his friend by holding up the very same bank, pretending to steal the money his friend had already taken. But Bud gets into a shooting fight with the bank president and, on his deathbed, confesses his guilt. Despite the far-fetched, downright silly plot, the trade magazine Variety claimed the film was "probably the best release Jones has had to date." Rhody Hathaway, the father of director Henry Hathaway, played the heroine's father. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles "Buck" Jones, Betty Bouton, (more)
