Ride Him, Cowboy ** (1932, John Wayne, Ruth Hall, Otis Harlan, Henry B Walthall) – Classic Movie Review 7131

John Wayne’s first starring role in a B-Western is the first of six that he made for release by Warner Bros.

A young, fresh-faced 25-year-old Wayne plays John Drury, who rescues Duke the white stallion, the horse belonging to John Gaunt (Henry B Walthall), from being shot for allegedly killing a rancher, and together Wayne and Duke set off to find the real killer.

Director Fred Allen’s 1932 Ride Him, Cowboy is a mild, efficient early Wayne Western from a screenplay by Kenneth Perkins, but it is no earth-shatterer. The young Wayne is commendably engaging and nimble as a performer, but he is on his own here to carry the movie.

Based on the 1923 novel of the same name by Kenneth Taylor Perkins, it was first filmed as the silent The Unknown Cavalier in 1926 with Ken Maynard and uses a lot of stock footage from the original. Otis Harlan plays the judge in both versions.

Also in the cast are Ruth Hall, Harry Gribbon, Charles Sellon and Frank Hagney.

Ride Him, Cowboy (also known as The Hawk in GB) is directed by Fred Allen, runs 56 minutes, is produced by Leon Schlesinger Studios, is released by Warner Bros, is written by Kenneth Taylor Perkins, with adaptation by Scott Mason, based on the novel by Kenneth Taylor Perkins, is shot in black and white by Ted McCord and is produced by Leon Schlesinger.

‘Duke’ was of course also Wayne’s real-life nickname.

Ride Him, Cowboy (US title) and The Hawk (UK title).

Ride Him, Cowboy is available for free download at the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/RideHimCowboy1932

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7131

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