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3.2/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 3.2/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Circle Canyon remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, only if you’re deep into the 1930s western rabbit hole. If you’re looking for a tight story or anything resembling modern pacing, you’ll probably hate it within ten minutes. But, if you like the smell of old celluloid and don't mind a movie that feels like it was put together with string and optimism, you might find a weird charm here. 🤠
The whole premise is just land, oil, and people yelling about deeds. There's an orphan girl at the center of it all, but let's be real—she’s mostly just a prop to get the plot moving. Chris Morrell plays the foster father figure, and he handles the horse-riding better than he handles the dramatic heavy lifting.
The movie moves at a pace that suggests the horses were mostly walking. There’s a scene early on where two gangs are supposed to be intimidating each other, but it just looks like a bunch of guys forgot their lines and decided to stand around waiting for the sun to set. It’s honestly kind of endearing in a sad way.
I couldn't help but think about how much simpler this feels compared to something like Charlie Chan's Chance, which actually bothers to build a mystery. Here, the "mystery" is just: who gets the oil? Whoever shoots the most bullets, I guess.
There's a lot of running into canyons and out of canyons. It makes me wonder if they just had one canyon location for the whole week. It’s not as chaotic as the slapstick energy you’d find in Their Purple Moment, but it has that same feeling of people just trying to get through the day's shoot.
Is it good? No. Is it worth watching? If you want to see how they made movies when the budget was basically 'buy a sandwich for the stuntman,' then sure. It's thin. It's dusty. It's barely there.
The dialogue is mostly just instructions. "Go there!" "Get the girl!" It’s not exactly Shakespeare, but it gets the job done if you aren't paying much attention. I caught myself looking at the background extras more than the main characters. One guy in the back of the saloon scene is clearly just staring at the camera for five seconds straight. Classic.
Sometimes you just want a movie that doesn't ask for your soul. Circle Canyon is exactly that. It's a placeholder of a film, drifting through the desert, waiting for the credits to roll so everyone can go home.
IMDb 6.8
1925
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