Summary
A dust-blown parable of collateral damage in the age of gushers, Wolves of the Range pits a rancher’s son against the twin specters of fiduciary ruin and predatory guardianship. Jim Hudson, already lashed to the saddle of debt incurred while hauling his father from a speculative oil pit, mortgages the last square of prairie he owns and enters the rodeo’s crucible atop a bronc whose spine snaps men like kindling. His engagement to Cora—heiress to a fortune her uncle-by-court-order Arthur Blake has been skimming with the fastidious calm of a butcher trimming fat—becomes the film’s fulcrum. Blake, sensing exposure, schemes matrimony as both veil and vault; when Hudson’s father strikes a seeping, sulfur-smelling bonanza, carnival grifters swarm, tightening the vice. The guardian escalates from embezzler to abductor, spiriting Cora to a derelict line-shack whose rafters creak like gallows. Hudson, bruised from arena dirt and bank notes, tracks them through mesquite and moonshine, drags Blake into the kerosene glare of justice, and reclaims both land and bride.
Synopsis
Jim Hudson places himself in financial jeopardy after rescuing his father from bad oil investments. His only hope is to mortgage his ranch and ride a deadly bucking horse in the rodeo. Meanwhile, Jim's engagement to Cora is threatened by her guardian, Arthur Blake, who intends to conceal his misappropriation of the young woman's fortune by marrying her. Jim's life is further complicated when his father is beset by charlatans after striking oil. Desperate to win Cora, Arthur kidnaps her, but Jim locates the hideout, rescues Cora, and supervises her guardian's arrest.
Cast
