Buffalo Bill Rides Again
Buffalo Bill Rides Again
NR | 18 April 1947 (USA)
Buffalo Bill Rides Again Trailers

Produced by Jack Schwartz for low-budget company Screen Guild, this mild Western starring the veteran Richard Arlen was apparently the first entry in a proposed series. Arlen played the title role, here assigned by the army to quell an Indian attack on the powerless settlers. The Indians are accusing Tom Russell (John Dexter) of murdering a member of the tribe, an act, as Buffalo Bill discovers, actually committed by a gang of outlaws hired by investment company owner J.B. Jordon (Frank O'Connor). Buffalo Bill Rides Again was soundly defeated by a low budget and slipshod direction by the veteran Bernard B. Ray. Popular B-Western villain Ted Adams disappeared mysteriously halfway through the film, only to be replaced by Edmund Cobb. Jennifer Holt, the daughter of Arlen contemporary Jack Holt and by far the busiest B-Western heroine of the 1940s, had little to do other than letting herself be kidnapped by evil Gil Patric.

Reviews
frankfob

A semi-decent--well, semi-professional, at least--cast is completely wasted in this truly pathetic excuse for a western. A badly miscast Richard Arlen (he's way too old for the part) plays Buffalo Bill, sent to investigate why settlers are being suddenly subjected to attacks by both Indians and outlaws. He eventually finds out, but it's not worth spending an hour or so of your life to find out with him. About the only good thing that can be said for this picture is that the photography is clear, something that wasn't always the case with many of the bottom-of-the-barrel independent westerns churned out by director Bernard B. Ray in the early and mid-'30s, and the annoying, tinny, out-of-sync and off-key background music reminds you of the worst of PRC's series of rock-bottom westerns from the '40s. On the other hand, the fact that you can see what's going on in this picture isn't necessarily an advantage--it's so poorly directed, badly acted, sloppily written (with annoying lapses in logic) and incompetently edited that you actually feel embarrassed for the actors caught up in this mess. The few "action" scenes are embarrassingly and laughably inept, particularly an Indian attack on the ranch house of Jennifer Holt (just about the only reason to watch this picture, as she's just as beautiful as ever) and her father, and Arlen's stunt double earns his money in a fistfight that takes place in one of the cheesiest sheriff's offices I've ever seen. This has the look and feel of a TV pilot that didn't make it, with the producers figuring they'd try to recoup some of the $87.50 (by the looks of it) they spent to make this picture by releasing it as a feature. The damn thing makes little if any sense; it can't stick to one story and keeps going off on tangents that have nothing to do with the "plot" line, characters show up out of nowhere, hang out for a few minutes and then vanish just as quickly, with no explanation as to who they are or what they're doing there, and its overall shoddiness and ineptness is so frustrating you'll probably turn it off long before it ends, which is what I did. Except for Jennifer Holt, this film is utterly worthless. Skip it.

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