Overrated

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Buddy Roosevelt (Dick Taylor), Francis Morris (Mary Ross), Sam Pierce (Tom Ross), Fay McKenzie (Sally Nolan), Lafe McKee (Nolan), George Chesebro (Kirns), Clyde McCalary (Tubby), Merrill McCormick (Pete Larkin), Allen Holbrook (Slim), Eva McKenzie (Mrs Wilson), Bud Osborne (sheriff), Denver Dixon.Director: DENVER DIXON (Victor Adamson). Screenplay: Betty Burbridge. Film editor: Frances Burroughs. Photography: Brydon Baker. Art director: Jack Cook. Producer: Denver Dixon. Not copyrighted by California Motion Picture Enterprises. U.S. release through Superior Talking Pictures in 1934. 51 minutes.SYNOPSIS: The story jumps all over the place, but, as near as I can figure it out, it concerns a professional cattle rustler (ace villain George Chesebro), who, the better to ply his trade, hires himself out as ranch foreman to the gormless brother (Sam Pierce) of the mousy heroine (Francis Morris). Mind you, we are not even sure until the picture is half over that Miss Morris is the heroine. Up to that point, that role is ably filled by the flamboyant Fay McKenzie. However, the script changes heroines in mid-stride, replacing the domestic comedy of the first half with a fair amount of typical western action in the second.COMMENT: Directed by top stuntman Denver Dixon, "Boss Cowboy" is an interesting but (except for some really fabulous stunts) thoroughly incompetent little western (even the credit titles are hilariously misspelled) that yet offers a great deal of both deliberate and unintentional entertainment. The once highly popular silent cowboy star Buddy Roosevelt proves to possess a pleasant voice (but with the wrong accent. He's obviously no westerner). Presumably, the movie's budget allowed for one or two day trips to real locations, but didn't run to the hire of a movieola (or editing machine). Miss Burroughs has seemingly chopped up lengths of film at random and then simply spliced them together.

I've seen worse acting, but not a whole lot worse. The plot lacks originality and, well, the murder "mystery" is only a mystery to the one who was there but *didn't* do it. The fight scenes are poor even for old B westerns. The sounds of two men struggling continue while the struggle is suspended during a rope climb, and then end in the middle of "round 2". Even the mandatory "good guy tackles bad guy from horseback" is missing: the bad guy's horse (his name must be SUV) does a rollover going around a sharp turn. One thing thankfully missing is the cliché rich guy running the rustling operation, but is doesn't matter--(nearly) everyone knows the head bad guy from the beginning.Bottom line: one of the worst films I've ever seen, and probably the worst western.