Straight Shooting (1917)

"Straight Shooting" is notable as John (aka Jack) Ford's first feature length film. He had directed a few two-reelers earlier. In fact this film started out as a short but was expanded to feature length during production. It stars Harry Carey as a recurring Ford character, Cheyenne Harry.The plot is what would be a staple among westerns, the cattlemen against the nesters. Leading the cattle ranchers is Thunder Flint (Duke Lee) who wants to drive the farmers off of their land. Sweet Water Sims (George Berrell) and his comely young daughter Joan (Molly Malone) and son Ted (Ted Brooks) represent (for budgetary reasons) the struggling farmers.Flint hires wanted criminal ($1,000 reward no less) Cheyenne Harry (Carey) to drive the nesters out. Harry is a hard drinkin', hard smokin' fast on the draw hombre. He even gets into an all night drinking bout with Flint co-hort Placer Freemont (Vestor Pegg). Before Harry can take action on the farmers, Flint dry gulches young Ted Sims, killing him. Harry comes upon the burial service and takes pity on them, the lovely Joan in particular. Joan has been the apple of cowhand Sam Turner's (Hoot Gibson) eye during all of the trouble.Harry sees the error of his ways and sides with the farmers. Flint orders Freemont to kill Harry. In a showdown, Harry prevails. Flint then gathers a large gang of cattlemen and plans an attack on the farmers. Seeing that the farmers are badly outnumbered, Harry seeks help from a former outlaw pal Black-Eye Pete (Milton Brown) and his gang. A large battle ensues and...............................Harry is then faced with a dilemma. Does he get Joan to mend that tear in his shirt or does he ride on? Many of Ford's future trademarks are in this film. He always liked plenty of hard ridin' horsemen complete with horse falls with plenty of action. Long panoramic shots such as the shot of a cattle drive from the top of a hill impress. Lots of gun play, a sympathetic good/bad hero and a little romance thrown in. The trademark "Fordian" humor would come later. By the way, what happened to the price on Harry's head?A good start to a long and rewarding career.

Along with "The Virginian" and William S. Hart's gritty West depictions, "Straight Shooting" seemed to herald in a more realistic approach to the sage brush drama and was justly praised by critics of the day.John Ford (billed as Jack) brutally showed a bitter clash between cattlemen and homesteaders and Harry Carey put his stamp on the role of "Cheyenne" Harry, initially hired by the ranchers but after seeing the tragic and senseless death of a young homesteader joins farmer Sweet Water Sims. As well as Harry Carey, a young Hoot Gibson was also promoted to featured player status on the strength of his role as Sam, a young cowboy, again employed by the ranchers but who is in love with pretty Joan Sims.There are some stunning sequences - when Thunder Flint is introduced there is a beautiful tracking shot showing horses grazing on a hill which was to become a Ford signature piece and also the rain. It never seems to rain in westerns but it does in this one and seeing the tethered horses being drenched by rain as well as the cowboys larking about in the mud, just adds to the realism.The boy's funeral affects Harry immensely and he then vows to reform and work for the good. He has to get the ranchers before they get him - which they plan for that night. There is also a gunfight, high noon style, between Harry and the man hired to track him down and who, incidentally, was the same coward who gunned down Joan's brother!! And in another interesting twist (for 1917) Harry fights fire with fire by recruiting his old gang of cut-throats - the Black Eyed Gang!! Interesting actress, Molly Malone - she looks such a kid but even though she made her film debut only the year before in 1916, she was really a late bloomer having been born in 1888. Being almost 30 (at a time when most of the young actress were barely out of their teens) was no barrier and she went on to have a lengthy career.

This is notable for being an early directorial effort by John Ford, the great Western filmmaker. It's short and simple--about a feud between ranchers and farmers over water supply. The print I saw was missing some brief footage, and the film isn't in the best shape. Still, it is clearly unimpressive. There are plenty of shots with open doorways, and one might find similarities with Ford's later work, but the static camera positioning is prosaic even for 1917.Harry Carey's Cheyenne Harry is a bandit turned good after seeing an attractive female--a role too similar to the one William S. Hart had already introduced to the screen in nearly every one of his vehicles. And, the climax of "Straight Shooting" seems to be taken straight from D.W. Griffith; it especially resembles "The Birth of a Nation" in a clumsy, derivative way. Eventually, Ford would improve upon past films and film-making, but here he was just copying others.

Apparently the earliest Ford film to survive intact, Straight Shooting could hardly be bettered as a prototype for so many films later in his career-- there are moments that are reproduced almost exactly in The Searchers in particular, and to a lesser extent in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, etc. While this modest genre film doesn't treat these themes with the deep emotional resonance of the later classics, it is surprisingly serious and thoughtful, and shows that the young Ford was unusually responsive to the emotional gravity that an older star like Carey could bring to a simple shoot 'em up-- the film is more mature than many of his 20s films with George O'Brien.