Range Law: Dust, Justice, and a Really Good Horse

Okay, so Range Law. This is one of those old-school westerns, the kind that plays out exactly like you think it will from the first dusty shot. If you're a fan of Ken Maynard, or just really curious about how they made these things back in 1931, yeah, give it a whirl. But if you’re hoping for anything with modern sensibilities, well, you'll probably find it a bit slow and predictable.

Ken Maynard, as our main guy Jim Corbin, he's got that whole "wronged man" thing down pat. He breaks out of jail, pretty quick too, which is just how these plots worked back then. No big surprises there.

And his horse, Tarzan! 🐴 Honestly, that horse is a real standout. He does a lot of the heavy lifting here, maybe even more than some of the human actors. You can really tell there was a bond between them.

The story is simple enough: Jim was framed, and now he's out to find the real bad guy. The villain, a fella named Buck Monroe, is exactly what you’d expect. He’s sneering, kinda shifty, and real easy to dislike, which is the whole point, I suppose.

There's a lot of riding around in this movie. Like, a real lot of it. You see the same few stretches of desert and dusty roads more than once, I swear. It gives you a sense of the wide-open spaces, but also, after a bit, you kinda wish they'd just get to the point.

One scene, where Jim is trying to sneak into the bad guy’s ranch, it goes on about twenty seconds too long. You just watch him tiptoe around and you're thinking, "Okay, we get it, he's being stealthy." But then it just keeps going.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Range Law (1931) through its definitive frames.

The fistfights, they're a bit clunky, you know? Like everyone's waiting their turn to throw a punch. It’s got that classic old Hollywood staged feel to it, not very gritty.

And the sound mix, bless its heart. It's rough, as you'd totally expect from a film of this vintage. Sometimes the music swells kinda out of nowhere, covering up dialogue, and then it’s gone again just as suddenly.

The movie gets noticeably better once Jim teams up with the local sheriff, played by Lafe McKee, who actually feels like a real person, not just a cardboard cutout. Their dynamic is pretty solid, even if it's brief.

It’s not trying to be anything more than a straightforward tale of frontier justice. And for that, it mostly delivers. It's a quick watch, no deep thoughts required. Just a cowboy, his horse, and some bad guys needing what’s coming to them.

You can almost feel the desert heat coming off the screen, even in black and white. They shot a lot of this on location, and it shows. Which is nice.

Little Things I Noticed:

• The way Tarzan, Ken Maynard's horse, seems to know his cues almost better than some of the actors. Very impressive animal.
• One of the bad guys has this really distinctive laugh that just sounds forced every time.
• There's a shot of a hawk circling overhead, right before a chase starts. It's probably just filler, but it felt kinda cool. 🦅
• The "prison" looked more like a small, dusty shed. Not very intimidating.
• The townsfolk, when they show up, just sort of mill about. Like half the extras wandered off for coffee.

This film is a neat little time capsule. It's not gonna change your life or anything, but for a glimpse into early westerns, it does the trick. Just keep your expectations set to "simple pleasures."