The Savage Horde (1950)

Must See Movie...

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Superior Republic oater despite a title that suggests Ghengis Khan. Good screenplay, excellent cast, and occasionally good locations, lift this production beyond the routine. Most of all, there's the unsung Bill Elliot in the lead. He wasn't handsome and couldn't sing, but he was a good convincing actor who could make you believe his character was real. And best of all, no one, including Duke Wayne, was better at being plain ornery. Elliot's voice always had an edge to it that conveyed real authority. Unlike most cowboy heroes, he could have played the black hat as easily as the white one.I like the way the screenplay makes the characters more complex than usual. In fact, notice how bad guy Grant Withers wins almost every argument with Elliott, the other ranchers and the judge. He's shrewd, knows the law and people, and is nicely underplayed by Withers. Too bad, steely-eyed Bob Steele never got the big break his talent deserved. Probably it was because of his bantam size; nonetheless, he's almost scary as the hired gunsel. Adding his usual colorful character is that unmistakable motor-mouth Earle Hodgins as the gun huckster. Did Hollywood ever have a faster talker or a bigger snake oil salesman. Even the ladies are a cut above the cowgirl average. Booth comes across as the kind of gal any guy would like to hitch up with. Include in the mix, professional weasel Will Wright and professional nice guy Noah Beery Jr., and the movie amounts to an Oscar night among B-movie all-stars. Joe Kane puts it all together, though a couple of seams do show-- how did Elliott get away from army custody and show up suddenly in town. Was that me, my video copy, or a lapse in the editing. Anyway he arrives just in time with a cut face and no explanation of how he got away. But that's okay. The effortless barn dance more than makes up for a possible editing lapse. So, if you've got a spare 90 minutes, give this classic 1940's face-off between a big land baron and the little guys a try.

Johnny Ringo appears in many westerns and there are many stories about him. No one knows which are true or false. Here he appears with a brother, who is an Army Lieutenant.Ringo shot and supposedly murdered another lieutenant and the Army is after him. He holes up in a town where his old flame has a restaurant without his gun.There is a range war going on and he gets drawn into the side of the good guys. He has to pick up his gun again to save the day. Off he rides into the sunset with his brother to face charges vowing to his girlfriend he will return.Of course he will.Bill Elliott does a good job. He has been in over 200 films by the time he made this, so he had a bit of experience. Another veteran (Noah Beery Jr.) was also here as Ringo's partner.

"The Savage Horde," a somewhat generic title unless the viewer considers Wade Proctor (Grant Withers) and his henchmen to be a horde, is a top notch Wild Bill Elliott oater with some of the best acting to be seen in a B western. The Standout performance from a fine cast belongs to former cowboy star Bob Steele as Dancer, proctor's aloof paid gunman who gets pleasure from shooting men down in cold blood. He reminds one of a similar character, Jack Wilson (Jack Palance), in the classic "Shane" a few years later. Keeping up with the likes of Noah Beery Jr., Douglass Dumbrille, Roy Barcroft, and Jim Davis is country western songwriter and balladeer Stuart Hamblen who wrote such standards as "It Is No Secret" and "This Ole House." He plays a clownish role with a tragic twist at the end. Lorna Gray and Barbra Fuller do well portraying frontier women in a man's world.The cast consists of a gallery of Republic support players with faces easy to recognize, though the names such as Bud Osborne, George Chesebro, Marshall Reed, and Wally Wales, aka Hal Taliaferro, may not register at first. Former cowboy star Kermit Maynard, brother to the famous Ken Maynard, plays one of the ranchers. He was also a noted stuntman by this time. Character actor Earle Hodgins, noted for his medicine show con artist pitch, has a small but telling role. He is not as obnoxious as usual, actually turning in a fairly restrained performance.The story is a familiar one about two brothers, one good (Lt. Mike Baker played by Davis) and one bad (John Baker, aka Ringo, played by Wild Bill Elliott). This time the "bad" one with a price on his head killed in self-defense but only his brother, the cavalry officer who has been assigned to track him down, believes his story. Ringo is determined to see an old flame to try to rekindle their romance and in the process gets caught in the middle of a range feud between cattlemen and homesteaders. The familiar plot has a few novel winds and turns before the final shootout involving plenty of action directed by B western master Joseph Kane. It is a Republic film so expect to watch the best stunt work around. The crisp black and white photography rests easy on the eyes and adds to the overall effect of the picture.

If you're anything like me, movies with no regard to continuity are just too distracting to enjoy. This little gem caught me by surprise right from the first few scenes because its continuity is absolutely dead on perfect. There are probably very few people who are fooled by sound stages versus the real outdoors. Not much can be done to satisfactorily convince the viewer that the actors are in the desert when they are actually in a studio with sand on the floor. BUT! This movie uses continuity to make the transition from indoor sound stage to outdoor reality as seamless and believable as I've ever seen. Watch closely as Wild Bill Elliot goes into a crouching position at the campfire on the sound stage to the exact same crouching position at the outdoor campfire. Someone cared about details like this in a 1950 western when it seems like no one in today's movie making industry can keep the level in a water glass within two inches of the proper level from scene to scene.Watch this movie for everything it has to offer, but while you're doing that PLEASE keep an eye on the near perfect job the continuity department did. I'm afraid this kind of pride in workmanship is a fading Hollywood legend.