Big Boy Rides Again: A dusty, familiar ride

Is it worth your time?

If you like old-school Westerns where the plot fits on a postcard, you’ll probably have a decent enough time with Big Boy Rides Again. If you’re looking for character depth or, like, a script that wasn't written in a fever dream on a Tuesday afternoon, you’re gonna be bored to tears. This is strictly for people who like watching guys in hats squint at each other in the sun. 🤠

The whole thing kicks off with a classic setup: guy comes home, dad is dead, now he’s mad. It’s the kind of premise you’ve seen a thousand times, and the movie doesn’t feel the need to hide that. It just gets right to the point. Honestly, I appreciate the lack of fluff.

The "Masked Killer" bit

Every time the masked killer pops up, it feels like the director just remembered he needed a villain. The reveal is about as surprising as a sunrise. Still, there’s a weird charm to how seriously everyone takes it. They act like it’s a high-stakes thriller when it’s mostly just people bumping into each other on dirt roads.

Speaking of the dirt roads, the cinematography has that flat, grey-brown look that makes you feel like you’re actually breathing in dust. It’s not pretty, but it’s real, you know? It feels a bit like The Road to Romance, just with more grit and fewer fancy sensibilities.

• Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams is doing exactly what you’d expect.
• The horse riding scenes go on for about 40 seconds too long.
• There’s a background extra in the saloon scene who clearly forgot his line and just stands there staring at the floor for a full minute.

Wait, why are we in the barn?

There’s this one scene where they’re supposedly hiding out in a barn, but you can clearly see sunlight pouring through gaps in the wood that should have given their position away instantly. It’s sloppy. I kind of loved it.

It’s not as polished as some of the stuff coming out around that era, but it’s got heart. Sometimes a movie just needs to be a movie. It doesn't have to be Midnight Mary or some grand epic. It just needs to get the hero to the bad guy.

By the time the final showdown happens, I was already half-checked out, but I stayed for the shoot-out. It’s loud, it’s chaotic, and nobody seems to be aiming at anything specific. That’s just how these things go, right? It’s not trying to win an award, and I respect that. Sometimes you want a steak, and sometimes you just want a bag of chips. This is definitely the chips.