Flying Lariats (1931) Review - Dumb Plot, Awesome Lasso Tricks

If you have got an hour to spare and love dusty 1930s Westerns where the microphone sounds like it is buried in a bucket of sand, Flying Lariats is worth a look. Modern viewers will probably hate the stiff acting, but B-movie fans will find it pretty amusing. 🤠

The plot is delightfully dumb. Wally decides to propose to Bonnie on behalf of his brother.

But Bonnie is like, "Nope, I would rather marry you." And Wally just goes along with it!

Naturally, the brother gets super mad. Their family feud gets paused, though, because some slick con man rolls into town with a fake gold brick.

Yes, a literal gold brick. He cons the local bank out of five thousand bucks, which was a massive fortune back then.

The middle of the movie is basically just guys chasing each other on horses. It feels a lot like The Cowboy Ace, but with way more rope tricks.

Speaking of ropes, the stunt work here is the real reason to watch. Sam Garrett is in this, and the guy does things with a lasso that seem to defy physics.

There is this one shot where a guy gets snagged off his horse, and you can tell the stuntman took a really hard landing. Ouch. 🤕

The audio quality is... rough. Sometimes a character starts talking and the background hiss gets twice as loud.

It has that awkward early-sound-era vibe, where everyone stands completely still when they speak so they do not move away from the hidden mic.

If you have seen other melodramas from around this transition era like The Bond Boy, you know how weird these early talkies could get.

The ending is incredibly rushed too. Wally just decides to fix his brother's love life by basically forcing Bonnie back onto him.

It makes absolutely no sense, but by that point, you are just enjoying the ride.

It is not a masterpiece, but it is a fun piece of history. Give it a shot if you like cheap old-school cowboys.