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6.8/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.8/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Sunset Pass remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have 60 minutes to spare and want to see some old-school cowboys punch each other in dusty black-and-white, then Sunset Pass is worth a quick look.
It is perfect for anyone who misses the simple days of early talkie Westerns where the good guys wore white hats and the plot moved like a runaway train. But if you cannot stand scratchy audio or actors who look like they are shouting their lines at a wall, you should probably skip this one. 🤠
The story is pretty basic Zane Grey stuff. Tom Keene plays an undercover agent who literally goes to prison just to make friends with a cattle rustler.
And boy, that prison escape has to be the easiest jailbreak in cinema history.
He basically just climbs over a wooden fence and nobody even shoots at him. The guards must have been on a very long lunch break.
The movie gets much more fun once Keene actually joins the gang.
He meets Ash Preston, played by a very young Randolph Scott who does not even have his signature swagger yet. Honestly, Scott stole every scene he was in, even back then.
He just has this natural presence, even when the script gives him nothing to do but look moody in a giant cowboy hat.
Then we get the classic complication. Keene's character falls hard for Ash's sister, played by Kathleen Burke.
The romance happens so fast it will give you whiplash. One minute they are shaking hands, the next they are looking at the sunset like they have been married for ten years.
It reminds me a bit of how quickly they used to rush things in old silent melodramas like The Fuel of Life. There is just no time to waste when the runtime is barely an hour!
The action scenes are incredibly goofy but in a charming way.
Whenever there is a fistfight, you can clearly tell the stuntmen are missing each other's faces by at least a foot. And the sound effects of the punches sound like someone hitting a wet sack of flour. 🥊
Also, there is a scene where a horse just stands in the background looking directly at the camera for about two minutes. I ended up watching the horse more than the actual actors.
It is that kind of movie. It does not try to be art.
It just wants to show you some cool horse riding, a few fistfights, and a happy ending.
Some of the dialogue is super clunky too. People just stand around explaining the plot to each other like they forgot what they were doing.
But still, there is a weird warmth to these old 1930s quickies.
It has that same rough, unpolished charm you find in other forgotten relics of the era, like The Snob Buster. It is just pure, uncomplicated Sunday afternoon junk food.
Don't expect a masterpiece. Just sit back, enjoy the dust, and don't think too hard about the plot holes.
IMDb —
1921
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