The Lariat Kid (1929) Review - Hoot Gibson being Hoot Gibson

Is it worth the watch?

If you enjoy old-school westerns where the hero smiles more than he shoots, you'll have a decent time with this. People who need fast action or high-definition explosions will probably find it incredibly boring.

It is a movie for people who like watching horses run across the screen for no particular reason. 🐎

The whole plot is basically Hoot Gibson going undercover to save his brother from a neighbor who is just... a real jerk. The neighbor wants the ranch and uses horse thieves to make life miserable for everyone.

Hoot plays 'The Lariat Kid' and he spends a lot of time looking very confident while everyone else looks stressed out. His brother, played by Joseph Bennett, mostly just looks worried and waits for Hoot to fix things.

I noticed that the greedy neighbor has a mustache that looks like it was glued on five minutes before the cameras started rolling. It’s one of those silent film villain faces where you just know he's bad because he looks so annoyed all the time.

There is a scene where Hoot does some tricks with his rope that actually look pretty difficult. You can tell it is really him doing it, not a stunt double, which is a nice touch for 1929.

The pace is a bit clunky, and some of the scenes in the middle feel like they are just there to show off the scenery. It reminded me a bit of the slow parts in The Mysterious Rider, but with less of the spooky vibe.

Wait, did I mention Walter Brennan is in this? He is super young here and it is almost hard to recognize him without the old-man voice he usually has.

The romance with Ann Christy is... fine. They don't have a ton of chemistry, but she looks nice in a hat and that's usually enough for these types of movies.

Some of the 'undercover' stuff is funny because Hoot doesn't really change his personality at all. He just kind of shows up and people are like, 'Oh, okay, this guy seems fine,' even though he is clearly the most capable person in the room.

It's a lot lighter than something like Bars of Iron, which is good if you aren't in the mood for a heavy drama. Sometimes you just want to see a guy on a horse solve problems with a rope.

The ending happens very fast. One minute they are fighting, and the next minute everything is solved and everyone is happy. 🌵

Things I noticed:

• The dust in the outdoor shots is so thick you can almost feel it in your eyes.
• There is a dog in one scene that seems way more interested in the camera than the actors.
• Hoot Gibson’s hat stays on his head through things that should definitely knock a hat off. 🤠
• The horse thieves are not very good at being sneaky.
• One of the bad guys falls off a horse and it looks like it actually hurt.

It isn't a deep movie. It doesn't try to be anything other than a cheap Saturday afternoon distraction.

If you've seen things like The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come, you know how these old stories like to play out. They are comfortable, like an old pair of boots that are starting to fall apart but you still wear them anyway.

Don't expect much and you might actually enjoy the charm of it. Hoot Gibson just has a way of making you feel like everything is going to be okay in the end.