Bulldog Courage: A Quick Trip Back to the B-Western Days

Is this worth your time?

Honestly, if you aren’t already a fan of those low-budget 1930s Westerns, you’re probably going to find this one a bit dusty. But for those of us who grew up watching Tim McCoy ride across the screen on a Sunday afternoon? It’s a total blast. If you hate movies where the acting feels like it was filmed in one take and the sets look like they’d tip over in a light breeze, skip this one. Everyone else, grab some popcorn.

The plot is as thin as a slice of deli ham, but that’s the point, right? A guy gets swindled out of his mine by a banker who probably twirls his mustache when he thinks nobody is looking. Then we get the son showing up years later to stir up the pot. It’s the kind of story that doesn’t need a manual.

Some Observations

• Tim McCoy looks like he’s bored out of his mind in half these shots, but when he finally starts shooting, he snaps into it.
• The stagecoach robberies happen with such clockwork regularity you could set your watch by them.
• There’s a moment where a character runs behind a building, and you can clearly see the painted backdrop wiggling in the wind. Classic.

It’s not trying to be Dillinger: Public Enemy No. 1. It doesn’t want to be anything other than a quick distraction. I found myself thinking about Alice's Wild West Show just because of the sheer amount of horse-related chaos happening on screen, though the tone here is obviously way more serious, or at least it tries to be.

The banker character is so predictably evil that it almost becomes funny. Every time he leans over his desk, you know he’s plotting something absolutely rotten. It reminded me a little bit of the dry, formal atmosphere in La banque Nemo, but with way more spurs and gun smoke.

The pacing is genuinely weird. You spend twenty minutes watching people talk in small rooms, and then suddenly, there’s a massive chase scene that seems to last for about three days. The editing is pretty choppy, too. You see someone start to climb a fence, and then the next frame they’re already halfway across the yard. It’s like the editor was in a real hurry to get home for dinner. 🤠

I don’t know. There’s something comforting about how simple it all is. No complex moral dilemmas here. Just bad guys who need to be stopped and a hero who’s too stubborn to quit. It isn't a masterpiece, but it doesn't try to lie to you about what it is.

If you have an hour to kill and you don't mind a little bit of grain on the film, give it a shot. Just don't look too closely at the extras in the background—half of them are just standing there staring at the camera like they’re waiting for a bus.