Man of Action (1932) Review - Giant Hats and Empty Bags

If you have got about an hour to kill and a soft spot for dusty, old-school Westerns, Man of Action is worth a look. People who love fast-paced horse chases and goofy early-talkie acting will have a blast, but anyone looking for a deep, serious plot should probably steer clear.

The movie kicks off with a bank robbery that is just wonderfully silly.

The local sheriff shoots the fleeing robber and grabs the stolen money bag. But guess what? The bag is completely empty! 😮

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Man of Action (1933) through its definitive frames.

You have to wonder how the sheriff did not notice the bag felt like air when he picked it up. He just stands there looking confused, which honestly set the tone perfectly for me.

Then enters our hero, Ranger Tim Barlow, played by Tim McCoy. McCoy wears a black hat that is so massive it looks like it might swallow him whole.

He decides to stay in town to figure out where the cash went, pointing his finger at four main suspects: the banker, the cashier, the sheriff, and a sketchy guy named Curt.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Man of Action (1933) through its definitive frames.

To be fair, the banker looks so incredibly guilty from his very first scene that there is not much of a mystery here.

It has that raw, slightly clumsy energy of early 1930s cinema. People shout their lines at the top of their lungs, probably because they were still terrified of those primitive microphones hidden in the props.

It actually reminds me a lot of other cheap quickies from that era, like After Sundown, where you can almost feel the desert grit on the lens.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Man of Action (1933) through its definitive frames.

The Little Things I Noticed

• The Horse Star: There is a scene in the middle where a horse looks directly into the camera for a few seconds. Honestly, that horse gave the most natural performance in the entire film.
• A Young Legend: Keep your eyes peeled for a very young, pre-fame Walter Brennan in a tiny, uncredited role as a deputy.
• Abrupt Cuts: The editing is incredibly choppy. Sometimes a scene just stops mid-sentence, probably because they ran out of film or the director wanted to go get lunch.

The stuntmen deserve a shoutout here because they really throw themselves off of rooftops into what looks like very hard dirt. It looks incredibly painful but makes for some great, chaotic action.

Sure, the plot gets a bit tangled near the end, and the romantic subplot feels totally tacked on. But McCoy has so much charisma that you do not really mind the messy writing.

It is not a cinematic masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. But as a slice of pure, unpretentious B-movie history? It is a total hoot.