RELEASE INFORMATION: Copyright 16 October 1932 by World Wide Pictures, Inc. No recorded New York opening. Los Angeles opening: 14 October 1932. U.S. release: 16 October 1932. 62 minutes. Available on a reasonably good DVD running 55 minutes from Alpha. This DVD doesn't do justice to McCord's outstanding photography and is also cut by at least 5 minutes, but it will have to do until a superior print becomes available. Incidentally, although prominently billed on Alpha's beautiful reproduction of the film's original poster, "Tarzan" has a nothing role.SYNOPSIS: A pretty shepherdess comes between two pals.COMMENT: This top-notch Ken Maynard vehicle boasts an interesting screenplay that successfully combines elements of slapstick comedy, suspenseful western action and true romance. Ken delivers his usual ingratiatingly virile performance and receives solid support all the way down the line, particularly from Ruth Hall's attractive heroine, Josephine Dunn's pugnacious flapper, Walter Law's importunate cattle baron and Albert J. Smith's too opportunistic villain. Even that perennial western foil, the stuttering ranch-hand, is given agreeable life here by James Bradbury, Jr. And for once the saloon owner, nicely played by Jack Curtis, is not the bad guy but a goodie two-shoes! Forrest Sheldon's direction is never less than highly competent and the picture is beautifully photographed by Ted McCord.

Between Fighting Men is one of those B westerns that had it gotten produced at a major studio with decent production values and an A list cast this could have been a classic western. At 20th Century Fox for instance I could easily have seen Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda as the two brothers as they were in Jesse James. As it is Ken Maynard and Wallace MacDonald aren't that bad as feuding brothers.Brothers occasionally will fight and these two have a good natured history of it. But the real fighting in their part of the west is going to happen when the government says that land the cattlemen have been grazing on is open range and anyone can settle and claim it. The sheepmen intend to do just that. Which means range war.But it means more than that when Ruth Hall and her father Buck Connors move in with their sheep. When the two of them start courting her and forget the range war, others haven't. When Butch Martin kills Connors and he's been hired by Maynard and MacDonald's father Walter Law as a range detective strong arm guy, it all hits the fan.Between Fighting Men is a pretty good product coming from a Poverty Row studio with little production values. Definitely shows cowboy star Ken Maynard off to his best advantage.

Land is opened up for sheepherders to set up homesteads on the land formerly owned by cattlemen. Naturally this leads to conflict and Win Thompson who owns the largest ranch wants to drive the sheepmen off. Trying to help are Ken & Wally Thompson, who are even given more incentive to help when they see Judy Winters, daughter of one of the sheepherders. Thompson's foreman Butch Martin is given orders to drive the rustle the sheep, but interprets the orders his own way and murders Judy's father. Win takes Judy in at the ranch, but she later learns that Win gave the order to Butch to drive off the sheep. Ken tries to remedy the matter, but can't do much especially when Wally is influenced by Butch that Ken is stealing Judy away from him. Enjoyable B western even though the script had already been done to death at every poverty row studio. The highlight is probably Ruth Hall who does a great job as Judy making us wish she kept up her film career. Another highpoint was Josephine Dunn as the café proprietor whose bit trying to snag Wally at the dance is fun to watch. Maynard is good as he usually is, but I think we could have had a bit more action. Rating, based on B westerns, 6.

Between Fighting Men is a good place to start if you want to learn about Ken Maynard. He always came across as a great guy in all of his westerns. Maynard may have been a jerk in real life, but you would never know it from watching him. In this movie he was still trim and doing a lot of action. He was the perfect cowboy star at the time this movie was made.A war between cattle ranchers and sheep ranchers is always a fun plot element. Add to that a beautiful daughter of the sheep man to lure the affection of the sons of a cattle man and you have a standard, but great, plot for a B western. Ken and Wally cleverly try to best one another for the attention of Judy. Regarless of the western setting, the lengths they go to in their efforts would make any movie from the thirties entertaining.There is no shortage of cowboy action in this movie. Pick it up if you can.