Idaho Kid (1936) Review - A delightfully dusty, goofy B-Western

Look, I'll be straight with you right from the start. If you are looking for a deep, emotional masterpiece of cinema like the 1935 version of Les Misérables, you are going to absolutely hate this movie.

But if you are the kind of person who finds comfort in the crackle of old celluloid and cheap cowboy hats, Idaho Kid might actually be your perfect lazy Sunday watch. It's short, incredibly dusty, and features some of the most hilariously awkward fistfights of 1936.

The plot is about as basic as they come. A guy named Idaho (played by Rex Bell, who has some of the most intense cheekbones you've ever seen) comes back to his old childhood stomping grounds and immediately gets dragged into a range feud.

He decides to take the side of a rancher named Endicott. The big twist is that the guy leading the rival faction is Hollister, who is actually Idaho's long-lost dad, though neither of them realizes it yet.

The Horse is the Real Star

I seriously need to talk about Sheik the Horse. Yes, the horse actually gets a screen credit, and to be completely honest, he has way more screen presence than most of the human actors.

There is a scene where Rex Bell is talking to some guys, and Sheik is just standing in the background, staring directly into the camera like he knows he is in a cheap movie. I honestly couldn't look at anything else. 🐴

Speaking of the acting, it is pretty stiff. It feels like everyone is waiting for their cue to speak, leading to these weird, empty pauses between lines where you can hear the faint hum of the 1930s recording equipment.

If you've seen other cheap B-westerns of the era, like The Winged Horseman, you know exactly what to expect here. It's not trying to be art, its just trying to keep kids entertained in a theater for 50 minutes while their parents get some peace.

"I didn't come here to start a fight, but I sure ain't running from one." — Idaho, probably saying this for the tenth time.

The action scenes are incredibly goofy. The fistfights look like two guys trying to swat a very angry bee away from each other, with sound effects that sound like someone slapping a wet piece of leather against a table.

And yet, there is a weird charm to it all. It is so earnest in its simplicity, unlike some other films from this era like Fighting Texans which try a bit too hard to be funny.

A Few Things I Noticed:

• The hats in this movie are absolutely massive. I think one guy's hat was actually wider than his shoulders.
• The bad guys are incredibly easy to spot because they all look like they haven't slept in three weeks and refuse to shave.
• The dramatic reunion at the end is so rushed it will make your head spin. One second they are shooting at each other, the next they are hugging.

Is it a good movie? No, not really. But it has a certain warmth that modern CGI blockbusters just can't replicate. It's like finding an old, dusty comic book in your grandpas attic—smells a bit weird, but you can't help but turn the pages.