The Rider of the Law: A dusty, quick-draw Saturday afternoon

Is it worth your time?

If you have a soft spot for grainy, black-and-white westerns where the hero wears a slightly too-clean suit, you’ll probably dig The Rider of the Law. If you need complex character arcs or, you know, a budget that covers more than three horses and a shack, you’re going to be bored to tears. This is for the folks who want to switch their brains off and watch a guy get punched in a saloon.

Bob Steele is doing that thing where he plays the 'Eastern dude' who actually knows how to shoot better than everyone else. It’s a trope that never gets old, even when it’s done on a shoestring. The Tolliver brothers are basically cartoon villains, but in a fun, non-threatening way. You spend most of the movie waiting for them to trip over their own spurs.

Odd little things

• There’s a moment where a horse just refuses to stand still in the background of a tense dialogue scene. It’s more interesting than the actual lines.
• The sound mixing is… well, let's just say the gunshots sound like someone hitting a tin can with a wooden spoon.
• The editing feels like it was done with a pair of rusty garden shears. Scenes start and stop without warning.

I found myself thinking about According to Law while watching this, mostly because both films treat the 'law' as a suggestion rather than a rule. There's this scrappy energy to it that you just don't get in modern blockbusters anymore. Everything is so polished today; I miss the days when a movie could just be a bit messy.

The pacing is lightning fast, probably because they ran out of film. The brothers get taken out with such ease it’s almost funny. It’s like the movie realizes, hey, we have a runtime to hit, and just pushes the 'eject' button on the villains one by one.

Is it a masterpiece? Absolutely not. But there’s a charm to it that feels honest. It’s not trying to be Sissi or some big, sprawling epic. It’s just a guy, a gun, and an Arizona sunset. Sometimes that’s enough. 🤠

The final chase to the border is exactly what you expect. No surprises here. Just dust, yelling, and some very questionable horsemanship. It’s a perfect way to kill an hour if you don't mind a little bit of rust on your cinematic experience.