Square Shooter: A 1935 B-Western that's mostly just... fine

Is it worth it?

If you're into dusty 1930s B-Westerns where people wear hats the size of dinner plates, you’ll probably find something to enjoy here. If you’re looking for a tight script or anything that moves faster than a tired horse, skip it. It’s exactly what you’d expect from this era, for better or worse.

Tim McCoy is doing the heavy lifting here, and honestly, he looks like he’s just happy to be out of the prison scenes. The guy has this stony, permanent look that says, "I’ve been framed, now give me my ranch back." It’s charming, in a very specific, low-budget way.

The plot holes are large enough to drive a wagon through

The whole thing about the forged will is basically just an excuse to get people shooting at each other in the desert. It’s barely a plot, really. It feels a lot like Wild Horse Canyon in terms of pacing—meaning it meanders around until someone starts a fight.

There’s a moment where the sidekick, Johnny, gets all jealous and petty because of a girl. It feels so shoehorned in. Like the writer just realized halfway through, "Oh wait, we need some drama here," and just tossed it in. It makes you roll your eyes a little.

• The sound quality is exactly what you expect: grainy and thin.
• The horses seem to have more screen time than the main cast.
• I’m pretty sure one of the extras is just standing behind a cactus for three whole minutes.

The bad guys are the usual sort of cartoonish villains. They spend a lot of time lurking in shadows and wearing vests that probably cost more than the film's lighting budget. It’s not exactly Nan of Music Mountain, which at least had some decent scenery to look at while the plot stalled.

Watching this, I kept thinking about how these movies were just churned out like loaves of bread. You get the same ingredients, the same flour, just a different shape. Sometimes it’s fine. Other times, you just wish there was a little more salt in the dough.

The final confrontation? It’s over before you can even settle into your seat. It’s like the director just wanted to go home for dinner. Honestly, I can’t blame them. It’s a relic, a piece of 1935 history that’s perfectly content to be forgotten. 🤠