Out on the Big Ranch review: Too much singing, but still kinda fun

If you have eighty minutes to spare and don't mind a lot of singing about horses, Out on the Big Ranch is actually a pretty fun time. 🤠

But if you get annoyed by classic 1930s movie logic where nobody just talks to each other to clear up a basic misunderstanding, you will probably hate this.

This is basically the granddaddy of the Mexican "comedia ranchera" genre.

It has got melodrama, beautiful landscapes, and a lot of guys in big hats looking very intense.

The plot is simple enough for a kid to follow.

Two best friends—one rich, one poor—both fall for the same girl, Crucita.

There is a lot of singing. Like, a lot of singing.

Tito Guízar plays Francisco, and honestly, the man has some incredible pipes.

But sometimes he starts singing right in the middle of a tense conversation and you just have to wait for him to finish his tune before the story can continue.

It reminds me a bit of how rural life is romanticized in A Romance of Happy Valley.

Everything is just a bit too clean and everyone is always ready to burst into song at the drop of a hat.

The comedy bits are pretty hit or miss, mostly miss if I am being honest.

There is this one guy, the drunkard who keeps trying to get a free drink, and his antics go on way too long.

But then you get to the dramatic parts and the movie suddenly gets very serious.

The big confrontation scene where they start shooting at coins is actually pretty tense.

I noticed that the sound quality is a bit rough in some scenes.

You can hear this low hiss in the background, like someone was frying bacon right next to the microphone. 🥓

Also, the lighting is weirdly dark in the indoor scenes.

Sometimes a character's face just disappears into the shadows for a second because they stepped two inches to the left.

It lacks the raw bite of something like The Tiger, choosing instead to keep things light and soapy.

Still, there is a charm here that you don't see in modern films.

It feels very theatrical, like you are watching a play that happens to have real horses.

The ending is super rushed, though.

Everyone just suddenly forgives each other and they start singing again.

It's not a masterpiece, but it's a neat piece of film history.

Just don't expect it to make much sense if you try to think about the plot too hard.

Didja notice?

• The dog in the background of the ranch scene that looks incredibly confused by all the singing.
• How Tito's hat stays perfectly clean even after he supposedly rode a horse through a dust storm.
• The incredibly awkward hug at the end.
• The guitar player who is clearly just moving his fingers randomly during the fast solo.