Hand to Hand Review: Great Music, Confused Cows, and Too Many Mustaches

If you have a soft spot for dusty, black-and-white westerns where the guitars are loud and the betrayal is ridiculously personal, Hand to Hand is worth a lazy Sunday afternoon.

But if you can't stand scratchy audio or plots where characters make the absolute worst decisions possible, you will probably hate this one.

The story is simple enough: a rancher falls hard for his friend's sister, but then that same friend decides to join a gang of cattle thieves.

It is the kind of classic melodrama where you want to shake the main guy by the shoulders and tell him his buddy is clearly a snake.

Honestly, the betrayal comes out of nowhere and feels a bit silly, like the friend just woke up one day and decided, "Yeah, I hate cows and love crime now."

The movie reminds me a bit of other early talkies like Headin' West, where the transition to sound was still a bit awkward but everyone was trying their best.

There is this one scene where Los Trovadores Tamaulipecos start singing, and for a minute, you forget about the thin plot and just enjoy the music.

The music is actually the best part, even if it cuts out randomly because of the old sound recording.

But then we get back to the cattle, and oh boy, those cows.

There is a "high-stakes" chase where the herd looks completely unimpressed, just slowly ambling along while men scream in the background.

I noticed one extra in the back who keeps looking directly at the camera, probably wondering when lunch is. 🤠

Carmen Guerrero is great as the sister, mostly because she has these incredibly expressive eyes that do all the heavy lifting when the dialogue gets clunky.

Her brother, on the other hand, has a mustache that seems to change shape between scenes, or maybe that was just the bad lighting.

The action scenes are... well, they are very polite.

People fall down before they even get punched, which is honestly pretty funny to watch.

It is not a masterpiece, and it definitely does not have the budget of something like All the Brothers Were Valiant, but it has a weird, clunky charm.

If you go in expecting a polished masterpiece, you will be disappointed, but as a piece of early 1930s cinema history, it is a fun little relic.