The Hard Hombre (1931)

You have to hand it to Hoot Gibson, a look at the cast list for many of his Westerns shows that some of the prettiest actresses in Hollywood were his co-stars - Marjorie Daw, Marceline Day, Laura La Plante, Esther Ralston, Billie Dove, Sally Eilers and last but not least Lina Basquette. Lina Basquette would have made a terrific vamp but she arrived on the scene too late, although she did get a break when she was given the lead in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Godless Girl". But she was already embroiled in court battles and custody disputes with the Warner family whom she had married into in 1925 and by 1931 pickings were slim and she was reduced to the old standby - poverty row.After "Clearing the Range", "The Hard Hombre" went for straight comedy with almost no action. Hoot, once again, plays another peace loving cowboy - "Peaceful" Patton who is back home with his mother after tiring of his old job's fighting ways. Will then applies for a job as a ranch hand at Senora Martini's (Basquette) place and she, upset that he has made himself right at home, sends him on a dangerous job to recover 30 head of stolen cattle. Martini thinks he will have a difficult time but he doesn't, owing to the fact that most of the men mistake him for "the Hard Hombre" - a tough, quick shooting leftie - Will is a leftie but that is all he has in common with him. Of course Will can't understand people's attitude, he only has to raise his hand and people head for the hills but when he realises why he pretends to be the real one so he can clear up the range war that is turning farmer against farmer. He has a particular look where he squints up his eyes which turns the cowboys to jelly!!!When the real "Hard Hombre" comes looking for the cowboy who has made his name a laughing stock, things turn grim for Will but when the real one tries to rough up Will's mother, Will puts his peaceful ways to one side and viewers get to see the only action in the whole movie - a big fight scene!! Having a small scene as the sister the hard hombre promised to marry was Florence Lawrence one of the very first film stars. With the aid of some publicity by the then IMP president Carl Laemmle, she was the first star to be actually named thus paving the way for the star system of future years.

In recent months, I have been watching quite a few series B-movies. While I am far from an expert and there is still so much to be seen, I was completely caught off guard by "The Hard Hombre". It was NOTHING like other films by the familiar stars such as Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Tim McCoy and the rest. Part of it was because Hoot Gibson's films were pretty unique and part of it was because it had an incredibly well written script--plus it was a comedy! The film begins with Hoot playing a character nicknamed 'Peaceful' Patton because the guy is so mild-mannered and meek. And, to boot, he was a complete mama's boy. However, using a familiar plot device, it turns out that Peaceful is the spitting image of another man--'The Hard Hombre'. This 'Hombre' has a reputation as a guy with a hair-trigger temper--and a guy who has killed many people. And so, when Peaceful goes to another town for a job, people recognize him as this Hard Hombre. Soon, Peaceful finds that everyone is suddenly VERY solicitous--and treat him with tons of deference and respect. At first, he's just baffled by it, but later, when he realizes what's happening, he takes full advantage of it! I would say more, but it would spoil the WONDERFUL ending.Overall, this is the best B-western I have seen...period. Hoot was a hoot, so to speak. His wonderful manner and delivery was great--especially since he was small and very non-macho compared to other cowboy stars of the day--making the plot work even better. See this film--you won't regret it.

Well I was surprised to see three reviews already posted for this film by the time I got here; it's not unusual to find one of these obscure B Westerns that no one has opined about yet. This one seems to have been written for a bit of tongue in cheek humor, but a lot of it falls flat with the uninspired performances of the principal players. Hoot Gibson had already had a successful career in silents, but at thirty nine years old, he doesn't look much like a cowboy hero, much less a 'Hard Hombre'. The casting for a lot of these older flicks manages to raise a head scratcher or two, in this one, Gibson's character looked like he was about as old as his mother, while in fact, actress Jessie Arnold portraying Mrs. Patton was only about eight years older. Which means on the flip side, Lina Basquette (Senora Martini) in her mid-twenties didn't seem like a reasonable match for her heartthrob hero.Of course the crux of the story rests on a case of mistaken identity, as William Penn 'Peaceful' Patton (Gibson) assumes the identity of an outlaw called Hard Hombre after he goes to work for Senora Martini. The thing that gets me is that at any time, a dozen tough guys in the proximity of the Hombre could have taken him down whenever they would have wanted to. Having Gibson posture with his squinty eyes and mean look would never have worked with a real hard case, and for half the picture, he didn't even wear a gun! Didn't Barlow (G. Raymond Nye) or any of his henchman notice that? Geesh! Aside from the actual story, keep an eye on the scene right after Gibson grabs Miss Martini off her horse and rides over to the old settlers' place. Gibson ties his horse to a tree, but as the group of folks walks out of camera range, the horse simply follows - the tether to the tree is simply gone! By the way, Gibson rode a variety of horses in his movie Westerns; the name of his sharp looking palomino in this one was appropriately named Goldie. No screen credit though, you just have to look these things up.The biggest kick I got from this otherwise bland film was when the 'real' Hard Hombre (Frank Winklemann) showed up and made the mistake of pushing Mrs. Patton around. In stand up fashion, Gibson's character brings the fight to his namesake, shouting out at the top of his lungs - "Keep your hands off my mother"! Yeah, that'll show him.

Fairly numbing western here, about a guy "Peaceful Patton" who's not afraid to wade into the middle of a gunfight to ask them to "come on out and talk it over peaceful!" Nothing doing! They're in the middle of a land war! Patton decides to get a job with a "mexican" lady And by "Mexican" I have to put that in quotes because Lina Basquette does, well, a BAD Spanish accent here. (Supposedly she was Hitler's favorite actress!). Anyways, there's rumblings around that Hard Hombre, a deadly criminal, is in the area. Somehow Patton is thought to be Hombre, and then everyone bows down to him, instead of treating him like the joke he is. Oddly enough, Patton DOESN'T deny at first he was Hombre, making this either believe that this was a brilliant twist, or just plain bad writing. Soon, Patton (as Hombre) brokers a land deal between the cowboys, until of course, the real Hombre comes along.,. Hoot Gibson (!!!) is alright I guess, but the script here is just awful, trundling from one boring scenario to another. You can tell when it's cheap by looking at the strange exterior scenes and how everything looks like it was filmed in an upscale neighborhood, when it's supposed to be a midwest town..