The Return of the Cisco Kid

Warner Baxter made his third and last appearance as the Cisco Kid in this film. Return Of The Cisco Kid had Cisco for the one and only time have two companion sidekicks. In that the film was joining the trio western formula that was popular in the day led by Hopalong Cassidy and the Three Mesquiteers.

Cesar Romero and Chris-Pin Martin are the sidekicks and I think Romero was there for the experience. I'm sure Darryl F. Zanuck already had him in mind as the new Cisco Kid when he made this film.

Baxter, Romero, and Martin come across Lynn Bari and her roguish grandfather Henry Hull making their way west to claim a ranch left to them. Up till then they live by Hull's wits and ways as a conman which Baxter recognizes from the start and that endears them to him.

But in the town they are heading for they have a crook for a sheriff in Robert Barrat who is your basic Snidely Whiplash type villain. He's stolen title to the ranch and wants big bucks for it and might not even accept those. This was a case for either Cisco Kid or the A-Team.

After that the story takes a twist from the plot of Warner Brothers 20th Century which also came out in 1939. It works out better for Baxter than it did for James Cagney. In fact Baxter's turning of the tables on Barrat at the end of the film is a hoot. It relies on the natural elements of their surroundings.

Return Of The Cisco Kid is hardly as good as In Old Arizona where Baxter won the second Best Actor Oscar for the part. But it's a fun western and I've always been a fan of the Cisco Kid.

It's Warner Baxter's fifth turn as the Cisco Kid, and his last. In the subsequent six movies, Cesar Romero takes over as the famous bandit. In this one, Cesar plays one of Warner's sidekicks, alongside Chris-Pin Martin, who's played Gordito since 1931 - "I think." It's movies like these that made a lot of audience members think Cesar Romero actually had an accent; but then you see him in movies like Tall, Dark, and Handsome and realize it was completely put on!

As all the movies start, Warner is pleased to know the Cisco Kid is presumed dead. He's free to go about as he pleases without fear of arrest. He meets Henry Hull and his granddaughter Lynn Bari on a stagecoach and soon gets drawn in by their accidental problems. Henry is an alcoholic, with a penchant for check-bouncing and selling a non-existent gold mine, but he messes with the wrong fellow this time. Robert Barrat is a crooked sheriff, who wants revenge from Henry's swindling. It's Warner to the rescue, with Chris-Pin and Cesar in tow. You'll also see Ward Bond as a tough troublemaker. Both Robert and Ward can be found in the following installment, The Cisco Kid and the Lady, if you want to see them again.

In case you're worried about an unfortunate end to Warner Baxter as the actors transition, have no fear. This movie ends exactly like the others do. Cesar merely takes up where Warner left off next time.

Warner Baxter's second outing as "Cisco" finds him barely escaping death before a firing squad. Escaping with his two sidekicks he just chances to meet an attractive senorita whose father has been cheated by unscrupulous land grabbers. Sound familiar? Naturally Cisco falls in love at once and takes care of the baddies. But, the lady already has a boy friend whom she prefers to Cisco (if you can believe it). Cisco is not one to tolerate this. He devises a job that is sure suicide for the boyfriend, but changes his mind at the last minute, and rides off into the sunset without the senorita, only with the side kicks.

That's the story, but there are some goodies to set it a bit higher than the usual "formula" western. For one thing, the photography is beautiful. Director and camera man must have been in love with the Arizona scenery! Always assuming, of course, that it wasn't shot in Griffith Park. For another, the comedy which was usually so intrusive and unfunny in the usual oater is here subtle and actually very funny. For example, when sidekick Chris Pin Martin is ordered by one of the villains to help put out a fire, he "helps" by spitting on it! Although O. Henry might feel the film adventures of Cisco are a far cry from those in "The Caballero's Way", on which IN OLD ARIZONA (the first Cisco movie) was sort of based, there are some echoes of the Kid's treacherous way of dealing with what he perceives as treachery to himself. When he thought the senorita had "led him on", he devised that plan already mentioned to get rid of her boyfriend. Actually, Cisco was mistaken. The girl had never loved him, she had only been friendly because of his help to her father.

Baxter makes a believable mexican and Lynn Bari is a lovely lady. The sidekicks didn't have to "act" being mexicans. They were the real thing.

Now for some disillusionment, if you think the movie and TV "Cisco Kid" is anything like what O.Henry created in his short story. In the first place, "El Chivato" as the mexicans called him, was not a mexican himself. The Texas Rangers when discussing him said his name was "Goodall". He was a very small, dark man, who might have passed as mexican, and his haunt was the prickly pear infested border country between the Frio and Rio Grande Rivers. He had no side kicks, only a treacherous half mexican girl friend who deserted him, to her cost, for a handsome Texas Ranger. As for Cisco's character, he was a conscienceless killer, for pleasure as much as for any other reason. And he didn't care if the fight was fair or not. If you would like to know the vicious way he got even with his girl friend, read "The Caballero's Way". It's only about twelve pages, and it led to so much!

This film begins with "The Cisco Kid" (Warner Baxter) being lined up in front of a firing squad and shot to death. To further add insult to injury, the officer in charge of the execution orders his men to let the vultures flying overhead have the body rather than burying it. Once the soldiers have left, however, two of the Cisco Kid's companions named "Lopez" (Cesar Romero) and "Gordito" (Chris-Pin Martin) run out of hiding to warmly greet the man the Mexican soldiers thought was dead but had survived only because, unknown to the Mexican soldiers, they had been firing blanks instead of real bullets. And since everyone now thinks he's dead, he now feels free to continue his life of banditry without a price on his head and someone always in pursuit of him. His attitude changes, however, when he meets an attractive woman named "Ann Carver" (Lynn Bari) who has just been swindled out of ranch by a crooked law enforcement official named "Sheriff McNally" (Robert Barrat). So, being the chivalrous person that he is, the Cisco Kid becomes determined to right this wrong--and gain the love of Ann in return. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a good film for the most part with Lynn Bari definitely enhancing every scene with her beauty and charm. And while Warner Baxter also put in a solid performance, he didn't seem to have the same mischievous personality that made him so famous in his previous movies. Even so, this was still an enjoyable film and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.