Border Brigands: Just Another Day in the Dusty West

If you've got sixty minutes and a soft spot for guys in big hats riding horses in circles, Border Brigands is exactly what you need. It’s not going to change your life, but it won’t bore you to tears either. If you hate black-and-white westerns with creaky audio, just skip this one. You'll be miserable.

Buck Jones is the main guy here, and he’s got that classic, stoic vibe down to a science. He’s a Mountie, but for most of the runtime, he’s just pretending to be a drifter. It’s the kind of undercover work where he just puts on a different hat and suddenly nobody recognizes him. I love that stuff.

The plot is as thin as the paper it was typed on. His brother gets killed, and he spends the rest of the time hunting down the people responsible. It reminds me a bit of the straightforward grit you find in Mister 44, though with way more galloping.

Some notes from the couch:

• The horses clearly have more screen presence than half the supporting cast.
• There is a scene where a guy gets punched and the sound effect happens about a full second after his head snaps back. It’s hilariously late.
• The background music sounds like it’s being played by someone who just learned how to use a piano five minutes before filming.

There's a part near the middle where the pacing just kind of dies. It’s just people walking into rooms, looking suspicious, and walking out again. You can practically hear the director yelling, "Just look at the door!"

Still, when the action finally breaks out, it’s got that frantic, unpolished energy that makes these old B-movies work. It lacks the scope of Monte Cristo, but it’s not trying to be a masterpiece. It’s just trying to fill an hour on a Saturday afternoon.

The villain is perfectly serviceable, too. He’s got that sneer that makes you want to see him fall off a horse, and thankfully, the movie delivers on that front. The final showdown isn't anything revolutionary, but it gets the job done. 🤠

If you’re into the history of the genre, it’s a decent watch. Just don’t expect any deep, philosophical musings on justice. It’s all just bullets, bad guys, and horses. Sometimes, that’s plenty.