Grit Wins (1929) Review - A dusty, simple silent western for a rainy afternoon

You should probably watch this if you have a soft spot for grainy black-and-white footage of guys falling off horses. If you need a plot that makes sense every second, you’re going to absolutely hate it. 🤠

It’s a silent movie from 1929, which means it was right on the edge of being obsolete the day it came out. Everyone was starting to talk in movies, but here is Ted Wells, just squinting at the sun in total silence.

I found a version of this that looked like it had been dragged through a gravel pit. Honestly, the scratches on the film almost added to the vibe.

Ted Wells plays the lead, and he has one of those faces that just says "I eat beans out of a tin." He’s not a great actor, but he looks like he actually knows how to ride a horse without falling off, which is more than you can say for some modern stars. 🐎

The plot is pretty thin, even for a B-western. There is some business about a ranch and some bad guys, led by Al Ferguson, who looks like he was born to play a jerk.

Ferguson has this way of looking at the camera that makes you want to hide your wallet. He’s much more interesting than the hero, to be honest.

There’s a scene where they’re all sitting around a campfire that feels like it lasts about five minutes too long. You can see the smoke blowing into the actors' eyes, and they just have to sit there and take it. It’s genuinely funny in a way they didn't intend.

I noticed one of the extras in the background of a town scene just staring directly at the camera for a solid ten seconds. He looked so confused, like he wandered in from a different century. 🕰️

The title cards are great because they use all this over-the-top language. One of them says something about "the burning sands of destiny" when it’s clearly just a beach or a very dry park in California.

Compared to something like Davy Crockett, this feels much more like a "working man's" movie. It wasn't trying to be epic; it was just trying to keep people in seats for sixty minutes.

I kept thinking about Smooth as Satin while watching this, mostly because that movie actually has a budget. Grit Wins feels like it was made with whatever change the director found in his couch cushions.

The stunt work is actually pretty wild. There is a fall during a chase scene that looked like it really hurt the guy's shoulder. They didn't have pads or CGI back then; they just hit the dirt and hoped for the best. 🤕

Kathleen Collins is the love interest, but she doesn't have much to do except look worried. She spends a lot of time holding her hands to her face while men punch each other in the dust.

I like how short it is. It doesn't overstay its welcome like a lot of movies do now. It gets in, shows you some cows, has a fight, and then the THE END card pops up before you can get bored.

There’s a weird bit with a dog near the end that doesn't really go anywhere. The dog just kind of barks at a bush and then the scene cuts away. I wonder if they lost the rest of that footage or if the dog just stopped cooperating. 🐕

If you've seen things like Flying Romeos, you know that 1920s cinema could be really experimental and weird. This isn't that. This is just a meat-and-potatoes western.

It’s the kind of thing you put on in the background while you’re cleaning the house. You don't need to hear it (obviously), and you can look up every ten minutes and know exactly what’s happening.

The pacing is a bit jumpy. Sometimes they’re in a cabin, and then suddenly they’re five miles away on a mountain with no explanation of how they got there. It’s choppy, but it keeps things moving.

I think my favorite part was the hats. The hats in this movie are massive. They look like they weigh ten pounds each. I don't know how they stayed on during the horse chases. 🤠

Is it a masterpiece? No way. But it’s a real piece of history that feels honest in its own cheap way.

If you’re bored and want to see what people watched for fun before TikTok existed, give it a look. Just don't expect it to change your life.

Some random things I noticed:

• One of the horses has a very distinctive white patch on its face that disappears in one shot. Clearly a stunt horse swap!
• The villain’s cabin looks like it would fall over if someone sneezed too hard.
• The fight scenes are mostly just guys hugging each other and rolling around in the dirt.
• The lighting in the indoor scenes is basically just "sunlight coming through a hole in the roof."

Anyway, it's fine. It's just fine. Sometimes that's all you need from a movie about a guy named Buck and a girl in trouble. 🌵