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4.5/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 4.5/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Red Fork Range remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Is Red Fork Range worth your time today? Only if you have a very specific itch for 1930s dust and horses that seem smarter than the actors. 🐎
If you like old-school Westerns where the stakes are purely about mail contracts and honor, you'll probably find this charming in a weird way. If you hate movies where the plot is thinner than the film stock it was shot on, skip it.
The movie start's off with this big setup for a stagecoach race. Reden and Farrell are the only ones in it, and they really, really want that mail contract.
It’s funny how movies back then acted like the mail was the most exciting thing in the world. I guess it was, before the internet.
Anyway, Reden is the bad guy and he does exactly what you’d expect a bad guy to do. He kidnaps Farrells daughter, Ruth, to force him out of the race. 🌵
Enter Wally. He’s played by Fred Gilman, who has a very stiff way of standing that makes me think his shirt was starched too hard.
Wally rescues Ruth, buys out Farrell (how did he have that much cash on him?), and enters the race himself. The middle of the movie is basically just people riding horses and looking worried.
I noticed a guy in the background during the town scene who looks like he’s just waiting for his lunch break. He’s leaning against a post and doesn't seem to care that a kidnapping just happened.
There is a lot of burstiness in the action scenes. One minute it's just silence and hoofbeats, and then suddenly someone is falling off a cliff. 🏔️
The editing is... well, it's 1931. Some of the cuts feel like they were made with a pair of kitchen scissors.
One reaction shot of Ruth lingers so long it becomes funny. She just stares at the camera while the plot is happening somewhere else.
It reminds me a bit of the pacing in The Gay Buckaroo, but maybe a little more desperate. You can almost feel the production running out of daylight.
The race itself is the best part of the whole thing. You get to see these old stagecoaches really hauling through the brush.
I kept worrying the wheels were going to fly off and hit a cameraman. The way they wobble is genuinely terrifying. 🎡
Reden has his men planted along the course to mess with Wally. It's very cartoonish. They throw rocks and try to spook the horses, but Wally just keeps going.
Wally's horse, Starlight, is honestly the best actor in the film. He knows exactly where to go and never misses a cue.
There’s a scene where a guy falls off his horse and it looks like a real accident that they just kept in. He hits the dirt hard and just disappears from the frame.
I wonder if he got paid extra for that. Probably not.
The movie gets noticeably better once the actual racing starts. Before that, it's a lot of guys in hats talking in small rooms.
If you've seen Soft Shoes, you know how these early talkies can feel a bit claustrophobic until they get outside. 👢
Chief John Big Tree shows up briefly. He has such a great face for the camera, even if the movie doesn't give him much to do besides look stoic.
The dialogue is pretty basic. "I'll get you for this, Reden!" is the vibe of about 40% of the script. No one is trying to win an Oscar here.
One thing that bugged me was the sound of the wind. It’s that constant low-budget hiss that makes you feel like you need to pop your ears.
But hey, it's only 50-something minutes long. It doesn't overstay its welcome like modern movies that think they need to be three hours.
I liked the way they handled the final stretch. It’s not a "profound exploration" of anything; it's just a guy trying to drive a carriage faster than another guy.
The villains are so obvious. You can tell who the bad guys are because they all look like they haven't washed their faces in a week. 🧼
Wally, on the other hand, is perfectly clean. Even after riding through a dust storm, his hat is pristine.
It’s that weird movie logic where the hero is immune to dirt. I wish I had that power.
If you're looking for something like No Man's Woman, this isn't it. This is much more of a "Saturday morning matinee" type of flick.
The ending is exactly what you think it is. No surprises. No twists. Just a guy winning a race and getting the girl and the mail contract.
I hope the mail was actually important. Imagine doing all that for a bunch of bills and catalogs.
Overall, it’s a decent way to spend an hour if you like the genre. It's got heart, even if it lacks a budget. ❤️
Just don't expect it to change your life. It’s just a movie about a very fast horse and some very shaky wheels.
Anyway, that’s Red Fork Range. It’s dusty. It’s loud. It’s over quickly.
IMDb —
1917
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