Wild Horse

This was a fairly intense program for ol' Hoot Gibson, with the story propelled by a tragic occurrence in Jim Wright's (Hoot's character's) life. The humor that so often shines through in Hoot's films is minimal here, except for the overly-ample and now cringe-worthy antics of Stepin Fetchit (it is interesting that although this was fairly early in Fetchit's film career he was given third billing in the opening list of players). The settings are few (cabin, main house, corral, jail, rodeo grounds, open range) but authentically basic and dusty, while the horse action is plentiful, including some majestic and exciting running scenes. The acting is honest and the editing seems pretty good. There were a couple of odd elements, however; one was when Hoot finds his dear friend on the floor of the cabin and doesn't bother to take a closer look to evaluate his condition, and another was to see this little rodeo draw thousands of attendees with arriving cars lined up forever outside of the arena. Nonetheless, fans of early 1930s westerns, Hoot Gibson, or horses will probably find "Wild Horse" worth their attention. And yes, if you like horse laughs, this film has a pretty darned good one.