Michael_Elliott Ride Him, Cowboy (1932) *** (out of 4)Duke, a horse, is on trial for killing a man and the judge is about to put him to death when cowboy John Drury (John Wayne) makes a deal. If Drury can tame the horse then it can live. Of course the cowboy comes through and soon the two of them are trying to track down the real murderer.RIDE HIM, COWBOY was Wayne's shot at stardom as this was the first of the six picture deal that he signed with Warner. The film is certainly a step up from movies like TWO FISTED LAW, which featured Wayne in supporting parts. On a technical level this might still be a "B" movie but it's still better than what we had seen the now legend in up to this point.The best thing about the picture is actually Wayne and his supporting cast of actors. I thought that laid back approach of Wayne's worked pretty well here including the scenes where he trying to smooth talk the leading lady played by Ruth Hall. Wayne and Hall share some nice chemistry together. Frank Hagney does a good job in his role of the villain and Henry B. Walthall turns in another fine supporting performance.As you'd expect, there's a lot of gun play as well as other Western trappings but they're all handled quite nicely by director Fred Allen who keeps the film moving at a nice pace throughout its 55 minutes.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . during her Troubles of the 1900s into our 21st Century for hanging BOTH Quasimodo's crush Esmerelda AND this gypsy gal's dancing goat! Just thinking about that poor, innocent goat flailing around at the end of a rope is enough to make anyone toss their French fries. Warner Bros. uses RIDE HIM, COWBOY to warn America that the "Red State" West is every bit as uncouth and gauche as backwards France. It's bad enough that a 25-year-old John Wayne is almost strung up for possession of a harmonica, before he's done anything in Real Life to earn his nickname of "The American Anti-Christ." But the heartless bozos who populate the U.S. West go too far in putting Wayne's Wonder Horse "Duke" on trial, with an eye toward dropping the white stallion on the Gallows. Both "Dukes"--man and horse--are nearly doomed on the say-so of the local crime-lord, a top honcho on the town's Vigilante Council. Red Stater's inability to differentiate between Angels and Demons explains why they're now going down at the Final Trump, Warner Bros. explains with RIDE HIM, COWBOY.

MartinHafer In the 1930s, John Wayne made a very long string of low-budget westerns. Despite their limitations, most of these films are pretty enjoyable for what they are--films to compete with series by the likes of Gene Autry and the like. And, compared to these other films, the Wayne films are generally a bit better. However, none of the films of this genre are high art--with often silly and tissue-thin plots but plenty of action.This film irritated me a bit, as you must accept the notion that everyone in the film has an IQ lower than a tomato's! Heck, Duke the Horse is MUCH smarter than everyone else in this silly film! You see this is one of the earliest scenes where Duke is on trial(!). He's accused of being vicious as he reacts horribly--at least around certain people. No one seems to notice that he is a gentle horse and only acts up around people who turn out to be evil! No one in town seems to know who the local villain, 'the Hawk', is, but Duke sure knows--and might pay for his life because of this! A bit later, it turns out that Wayne's character is also amazingly stupid. In a badly written scene, it's obvious to every single person in the audience (including the babies) that the guy in the desert with Wayne is the Hawk. Their conversation clearly lets you know that the guy is the Hawk and people in the audience were no-doubt yelling "it's the Hawk--don't trust him!". Yet, oddly, Wayne hands this evil man his guy to 'try it out' and low and behold, he takes Wayne prisoner!! And, for that matter, the Hawk isn't all that bright either, as he ties up Wayne and leaves him instead of just shooting him in the head! I guess the Hawk knew Wayne was the hero and, as such, was invulnerable! Later still, it's obvious that Wayne is a good guy. So what do the townsfolk do? Yep, they decide to hang him despite having almost no evidence!! And, when Wayne offers to give them proof that he's innocent, they ignore him! They also won't allow him to testify in court! What a bunch of poop-brains!! Is there lead in the water or something that might account for everyone being so incredibly stupid?! Perhaps there is a stupid gene and everyone here is related to each other! To make it even worse, a nice young lady learns who the Hawk really is and tells everyone in court who the Hawk is...and they STILL want to hang Wayne!! Overall, this is a pretty terrible film--even for a B-western. Wayne went on to make some very good Bs, but his early ones for Leon Schlesinger Studios were amazingly bad. This and "Haunted Gold" are two of these dreadful films he made with them and fortunately his films made just a few years later were much, much better--such as his Three Mesquiteers series. Any film that requires characters to be this dumb to make the plot work just isn't worth seeing--except for its value as comedy!!

bsmith5552 "Ride Him Cowboy" was the first of six westerns that John Wayne made for Warner Bros. for the 1932-33 season. Most were remakes of Ken Maynard silent westerns pf the 1920s thus giving the studio the opportunity to use stock footage from those films (which they did). This one is a remake of Maynard's 1926 film "The Unknown Cavalier". To match any stock footage used, the studio costumed Wayne in Maynard's costume and used a horse ("Duke") that looked the same as Maynard's "Tarzan".This first film gets the series off to a good start. Directed by Fred Allen (No, not THAT Fred Allen), the story moves along and holds the viewer's interest. Since the series was made at WB, the production values were far superior to those in Wayne's later "Lone Star" westerns.The story centers on how Wayne came to acquire his horse "Duke". The Hawk, aka Henry Sims (Frank Hagney) and his gang are robbing and pillaging the local ranchers. One particular night they hit the Gaunt ranch. The foreman, Bob Webb (Edmund Cobb) is attacked. The attack, for some reason, is made to look like Webb was trampled by Gaunt's prize palomino "Duke".The horse is about to be destroyed after a "trial" in town when a stranger, John Drury (Wayne) rides into town. He pleads with the Deputy Sheriff (Henry Cribbon), the owner John Gaunt (Henry B. Wathall) and his daughter Ruth (Ruth Hall) for a chance to ride the horse and tame him. He does this and the horse takes a shine to him. Gaunt allows Drury to take the horse as he also becomes attracted to Ruth.Drury offers his services to the town to track down the mysterious bandit. He and Sims who offers to be his guide set out in search of "The Hawk". In the desert, Sims reveals himself to be "The Hawk" and ties up Drury and leaves him for dead. "Duke", however, is able to free his master.While attacking another ranch, Sims plants Drury's harmonica and later cites him as "The Hawk". A mock trial before Judge Clarence "Necktie" Jones is held, Drury is found guilty and..................................A good series opener with little obvious use of stock footage.