You won't be disappointed!

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

SYNOPSIS: Sheriff tries to keep peace between two warring cattlemen. COMMENT: We have John Wayne's popularity to thank for the video release of this unusual item. (A good print too). I have remarked before that all Buck Jones' films are worth seeing and that many of them are quite unusual. Range Feud bears out that statement. What other westerns can you cite that start right off in a church? What other early sound westerns are so gripping and make such astoundingly smooth use of sharp editing and cross-cutting and pacily employ such realistic sound effects that the complete absence of background music is undetectable? What other westerns have such a grittily realistic mood and atmosphere? And in what other westerns can you find John Wayne playing the romantic lead but not the hero?It's hard to believe that this often stylishly directed piece had any connection with the usually pedestrian D. Ross Lederman. Or that a movie of such expertise could lie forgotten for so long in Hollywood vaults. For instance, Don Miller mentions the movie only in passing (because of Wayne's subsidiary role) in his marvelous book Hollywood Corral.

The open range, range war, rustling oppose two families, threats are uttered, one of the landowners is killed; the town's sheriff, played by Jones (already wearing a suit), should have to solve a murder case (but the only step he takes, as a lawman, is imprisoning Clint and waiting), and there is something to understand. As has been observed by others, Jones had, despite his proletarian look, a largely unmanly, affected acting style, he had the looks of a Gabin or a Cagney, but a strong bad taste in acting. Wayne plays one of his '30s naives. A nicer script would of required from the sheriff to compensate Clint's defenselessness by his own knowledge and wit; but this sheriff is just angry and prostrate by turns. But it might be subtler than that: beyond the sermonize-rs' ineffectiveness, with the mob who cheers the sheriff's burst of anger, there is another, quiet world, such as that of Clint's dad and of the oldster who finds a clue after the rustled cattle has been set free.The sheriff beats someone who dared to doubt his integrity. This is meant to express his inner turmoil and unbalance, but comes across as silly. (On the other hand, the sheriff was right in his choice of a victim.) The world of the sermonize-rs and the cheering mob, eager for a fight, and the quiet world, of the people who actually think; this pair is in the movie. There is a fine take with Clint's dad, after both Clint and the sheriff have left, the 1st running away, and the 2nd chasing him. The dad, standing near the door, tired of his own grit and anger, throws his weapon.As a footnote only, 'The Feud' is cathartic, it has been so for me, not uplifting, but cleansing, so it did me good.In his early talkies, Jones was knocked down, it happens in an earlier vehicle, where his white horse brings the girl (after they have found the missing cattle, and Jones chased the outlaws), it happens here. His character (a drifter there, a sheriff and a man of the place, here) is shown as brave and impulsive, but not quiet and shrewd, nor resourceful or witty; instead, more of an everyman, a proletarian, streetwise in an earlier vehicle, sententious in this one, plus the affected and overacted, over-expressed side. But Jones did have something striking, as opposed to the supposed blandness of other western actors. He didn't always use that strength. He indulged in impersonating silent movie stars, or his own idea of them. The scripts of his westerns have some dramatic interest.A common trait of 'Range Feud' and 'Shadow Ranch' are, beside the social fights of the deep, grassroots pastoral world, the likable bit players, such as both ranchers in this one (but especially Clint's dad), or, here, the cattle seller, who has been called to establish the provenience of the disputed cattle. They root the storyline.Wayne had a loose, playful, somewhat boyish style.As another footnote, this time to the genre: Jones was overacting (yet much of what he was doing was intriguing, despite his very wrong idea of what a cowman should be like), Wayne had a generic playfulness (as a serene country lad, sure of his good looks, and there is a large stream of underplayed irony in his early roles, perhaps a kind of a superiority complex, as he felt superior to what he was doing, or to what he has been given to act), Steele was self-conscientious sometimes, but efficiently humorous when needed, Ritter played his own quiet charm, even unto that undertone of eeriness and honest self-confidence of a fairy tale character (hence, the most intriguingly folkloric of them all), a singer who seems mundane and earthly yet comes across as wholly folkloric.

In the opening scene, a church notice states that a "Peace Meeting" will be held on Friday at 7:30 P.M. Right after the meeting ends, as sheriff Buck Gordon (Buck Jones) accompanies Dad Turner (Will Walling) to Charlie's Saloon, Dad states that it's Sunday! "Range Feud" was much better than I was expecting. Seeing veteran Buck Jones with up and comer John Wayne is reason enough to catch this flick, but the story itself winds up being pretty decent as well, even for an oater from the early 1930's. Up to this point, Wayne had already appeared in about two dozen films, but mostly in uncredited or bit parts, so seeing him share almost equal screen time with cowboy legend Jones must have been a great feeling for him.In the story, Gordon is the sheriff of a small town, raised as an adopted son by rancher Dad Turner. Clint (Wayne) is Turner's other son, visually a good deal younger than Buck. In actuality, at the time of the film's release, Buck was forty two and Wayne was twenty four.Gordon establishes his presence in the film early, he stands for nothing short of strict law and order, and finds himself right in the middle of a simmering feud between Dad and rancher Walton (Ed LeSaint). When Buck sides with Walton's claim over ownership of a parcel of land that he intends to restrict the grazing rights on, Dad Turner is ready to disown him.The thought just struck me that in virtually every 'B' Western featuring a romantic interest, it turns out that she's the only girl in town. In this case, Judy Walton (Susan Fleming) intends to marry Clint Turner, but first she'll have to deal with her father's murder, Clint's frame up, the quick trial and the sentence imposed on her fiancée - death by hanging. Well, you know the formula, Buck figures it all out in due course and saves his pal, with your standard horse chases and shoot outs in between. The main bad guy pulling the strings behind the scenes is appropriately named Vandall (Harry Woods).There are a couple of unusual scenes to keep your eye on in the picture. When Buck first arrests Clint and puts him in jail, he forgets to take his gun. Later, when a posse comes to hang Clint, he turns to the deputy and says "Here's a good hat I won't be needin' Jack."It's too bad this was the only screen pairing of Buck Jones and John Wayne. It came only a couple of years prior to Wayne landing more than a dozen lead roles over at Lone Star Pictures, where he would be joined on and off by Gabby Hayes and Yakima Canutt. "Range Feud" would have been right at home among them, though probably a tad better than most of those flicks.Though by no means rare, it might be tough getting your hands on a copy of this movie. I was lucky to pick it up as a double feature DVD with another Wayne film. It was worth every penny just to see all those little horseshoes on Buck Jones' shirt.

Competent little "B" oater with Buck Jones as the heroic sheriff and John Wayne as his friend falsely accused of murder. When you see Harry Wood's name in the cast, it doesn't take long to figure out who is behind all the rustling and killing.This was one of the Duke's first westerns following "The Big Trail"(1930). It was the beginning of a long apprenticeship in the "B" western field. His parts became increasingly smaller in the balance of his work for Columbia due to a conflict with the legendary Harry Cohn, Head of the studio.On the video release issued by Columbia/Tri-Star Home Video notice the title card at the beginning. It gives the title as Range Fued. How did that one ever get by the quality control people?