Dan Taylor (Richard Dix) and Paxton Bryce (Preston Foster) are friends who give up life at sea to start a ranch in Texas. They dream big, especially Paxton, and especially after he falls for Taylor’s pretty sister Abby and they have a son.
Soon, he’s determined to close the range in order to protect his herd. Seems a certain Mexican bandit is rustling pretty much at will. Closing the range might stop the rustling, but it’s also going to hurt other Texas ranchers, and the decision puts Taylor and Bryce at odds.
When Bryce’s son is killed during a stampede, Paxton orders barbed wire to close off his range, further estranging his wife and her brother. But Taylor and Bryce join forces one more time, when the Mexican bandits ride north to plunder the neighboring town and their ranch.
Review:
Richard Dix gets top billing, but Preston Foster’s character is the central point of the film. He’s a man who will stop at nothing to build his empire, then protect it, jeopardizing his relationship with even those closest to him in the process.
As for the empire part, the film doesn’t seem too grandiose until the climax, when the small ranchers are organizing an attack on Bryce’s ranch at the same time Mexican bandit Beauchard has organized his forces to attack the nearby town.
With that town left defenseless, Taylor and Bryce and their men ride out to face down Beauchard and his small army, trapping them in a canyon by setting fire to each end, then raining fire down on them while they’re trapped in the film’s best scene.
This marked one of just four credited roles for Merril Roden, who plays Foster’s son, though he later had bit parts in The Virginian and Buffalo Bill.
Directed by:
William McGann
Cast:
Richard Dix … Dan Taylor
Leo Carillo … Dominique Beauchard
Preston Foster … Paxton Bryce
Frances Gifford … Abby Taylor
Jack La Rue … Pierre
Guinn “Big Boy” Williams … Sailaway
Cliff Edwards … Runty
Robert Barrat … Crowder
Merril Rodin … Paxton Bryce Jr.
Richard Webb … Crane
Etta McDaniel … Willa May
Hal Taliaferro … Malone
Runtime: 82 min.
Memorable lines:
Abby, handing out kisses for her birthday presents, to Sailaway: “Because you’re twice as big, you get kissed twice.”
Sailaway: “Gosh, I wish I was as big as an elephant.”
Bryce, of his son: “What do you what him to be, a molly-coddler, afraid to fight for what’s his?”
Abby: “I want him to know there are two ways of putting out a hand, either a shake or a slap. And you get back a hand accordingly.”
Bryce: “Leading ranchers should set an example, or else how is the cattle industry in Texas gonna grow?”
Fellow rancher: “It was growing before you were born, and it’ll be growing after you’re gone.”
Bryce: “Well, I’ll shove it along while I’m here.”
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