"Men of America" is a little bit of drama and slight comedy, with a crime subplot in an early 20th century American Western setting. That's a mouthful, but it about covers what this film covers. As to the title, it's anybody's guess. It has cowboys and Indians, cowboys and outlaws, criminals and killers, good guys and bad guys, and regular folk. I guess that makes up the men of America.
But, overall this is a very hokey film. That goes for the plot, the screenplay and the acting. And the film quality reflects the difficulty of the first years of sound pictures with scene and set adjustments, screenplays, and casts.
This film is an early look at William Boyd in sound pictures. He had been around in silent films since1918, and made 56 of those. But, three years after this, he would appear in a film that would ensure his stardom as one of the most recognized characters in film of the mid-20th century. After starring in "Hop-a-Long Cassidy" in 1935, Boyd would play Hoppy in 66 more movies until 1952, when he then would have a TV series as the character, from 1952-54.
Along with Roy Rogers and Gene Autrey, Hoppy entertained millions of American youth in the Saturday matinees into the mid-1950s. I was one of those frequent Saturday show kids, when a dime would gain youngsters admission with a bonus one-cent bag of popcorn. And, while I can remember bits and pieces of those movies, they all seemed quite good to me. Indeed, those I have watched since then are all quite good. Most have some humor from the sidekicks, and sometimes they are just a little corny, reflecting the culture of the time. But they had good acting, action and enjoyable plots. None that I can recall were ever as hokey as this film.
I searched online to try to find out what actor appeared in the most movies as the same character, but couldn't find anything specific about that. From the IMDb Web site, I discovered that Gene Autrey appeared in 91 feature films as himself, playing a cowboy, sheriff, marshal or in another role. Roy Rogers appeared in 77 feature films as himself, sometimes as a sheriff or marshal. But I couldn't find any other actor who played another character role other than himself in more feature films than William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy.
Here's the best sample of the script with a small bit of humor in this film.
Smokey Joe Miller, "That's the thanks you get for makin' California safe for the females." Abby, the U. S. Mail clerk, "Eh, it's safe - too safe. Too tame, you mean. It's fools like you that stopped the thrills." Smokey Joe, "Thrills? Who'd you ever thrill?"
But, overall this is a very hokey film. That goes for the plot, the screenplay and the acting. And the film quality reflects the difficulty of the first years of sound pictures with scene and set adjustments, screenplays, and casts.
This film is an early look at William Boyd in sound pictures. He had been around in silent films since1918, and made 56 of those. But, three years after this, he would appear in a film that would ensure his stardom as one of the most recognized characters in film of the mid-20th century. After starring in "Hop-a-Long Cassidy" in 1935, Boyd would play Hoppy in 66 more movies until 1952, when he then would have a TV series as the character, from 1952-54.
Along with Roy Rogers and Gene Autrey, Hoppy entertained millions of American youth in the Saturday matinees into the mid-1950s. I was one of those frequent Saturday show kids, when a dime would gain youngsters admission with a bonus one-cent bag of popcorn. And, while I can remember bits and pieces of those movies, they all seemed quite good to me. Indeed, those I have watched since then are all quite good. Most have some humor from the sidekicks, and sometimes they are just a little corny, reflecting the culture of the time. But they had good acting, action and enjoyable plots. None that I can recall were ever as hokey as this film.
I searched online to try to find out what actor appeared in the most movies as the same character, but couldn't find anything specific about that. From the IMDb Web site, I discovered that Gene Autrey appeared in 91 feature films as himself, playing a cowboy, sheriff, marshal or in another role. Roy Rogers appeared in 77 feature films as himself, sometimes as a sheriff or marshal. But I couldn't find any other actor who played another character role other than himself in more feature films than William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy.
Here's the best sample of the script with a small bit of humor in this film.
Smokey Joe Miller, "That's the thanks you get for makin' California safe for the females." Abby, the U. S. Mail clerk, "Eh, it's safe - too safe. Too tame, you mean. It's fools like you that stopped the thrills." Smokey Joe, "Thrills? Who'd you ever thrill?"