Cyclone of the Saddle: Low-budget westerns are weird

Is it worth your time?

If you like old, scratchy black-and-white westerns where everyone shouts their lines and the horses seem more bored than the actors, then sure. This isn't exactly high art. If you need a movie that makes total sense or has a budget bigger than a ham sandwich, skip it. It’s mostly for people who get a kick out of seeing how they squeezed a whole story into 50 minutes.

The whole thing feels like it was filmed in an afternoon. There’s a scene where Andy Thomas is just kind of wandering around the desert, and I swear he passes the same cactus three times. It’s charming, in a way. You can tell they were just trying to get the shot before the sun went down.

The villains, Cherokee and Snake, are about as subtle as a sledgehammer. They spend half the movie lurking behind rocks, whispering about how much they hate everybody. At one point, they kill two people and then look directly at the camera—well, not the camera, but close enough—to make sure we know they’re doing a frame-up job. It’s funny because they don't even try to hide it well.

The action is exactly what you’d expect from a flick like Taming the West. People fall off horses in ways that look like they probably hurt for real. No CGI, just a lot of dust and guys in cowboy hats rolling around in the dirt. It’s gritty, but only because they were actually outside in the wind.

Random thoughts:

• The music. Man, it’s loud. It’s like the piano player was trying to win a fight with the lead actor.
• The wagon train extras look like they’re waiting for a bus rather than dodging arrows.
• There’s a moment with the Indians that is just... dated. I mean, it’s a 1930s western, so what do you expect? But it’s still jarring.
• The pacing is frantic. They don't waste time on character development. Why bother when you can have a chase scene?

I caught myself looking at the background shadows to see if I could spot the boom mic. Never found it, but the shadows move in a way that suggests the lighting rig was held together with duct tape and prayers. It reminds me a bit of the chaos in When the Kellys Rode, though that one had a bit more focus on the actual story.

Does it stick with you? No. It’s like eating a bag of cheap chips. You’re done, you’re slightly thirsty, and you’ve already forgotten the taste. But for a Tuesday night when you want to turn your brain off? It hits the spot just fine. 🤠