Syd Saylor was as good a serious side-kick as ever forked a horse, but he was thoroughly capable of playing a comic, or occasionally comic, partner as well.He proved it in this excellent B Western, with a lot of by-play between him and star George O'Brien.O'Brien was as good-looking and healthy a specimen as ever played a cowboy hero, fully capable of action heroics as well as romantic scenes.The story, by iconic Zane Grey, is beautifully presented in a script by Barry Barringer directed by Edward Cline.What makes this stand out is the characterization by all the performers, including the lovely Irene Hervey. She plays a spoiled, even seemingly conceited young lady of the range in a breezy city-slicker manner, but proves actually very likable, if sometimes flighty.LeRoy Mason, here Le Roy, is his usual good-looking but rotten villain, alternating between seemingly likable and trustworthy ranch foreman and lecherous and traitorous thief.Again, the entire cast is just about perfect, from the briefly seen Vesper Pegg, who just steals his scene of bringing up a mount, to the West-loving Earl Dwire, to Slim Whitaker and Lafe McKee and ... well, several others, none of whom get screen credit, but who all give us good reason to praise IMDb for providing the information.There are a couple of flaws, a moment of trite action happening in just the right place, for example, that brought down the rating from that perfect 10, but I highly recommend "The Dude Ranger" which is available at YouTube.

Easterner George O'Brien inherits his uncle's half of a ranch and goes undercover as a hired-hand in order to find out exactly who has been rustling his livestock. He soon discovers that his uncle's invalid partner isn't crippled after all and is apparently behind the thefts. Complicating things is O'Brien's crush on the old man's daughter.You really can't go wrong with any of the Zane Grey pictures from the 1930's. They have some of the healthiest budgets and best writing of all the era's B-westerns, making them a cut above the average poverty-row programmer.This may not have Randolph Scott and John Wayne, some of the stars from Paramount's Zane Grey series. However, The Dude Ranger features some great photography, three-dimensional characters, and some genuine suspense, as well as a few twists near the end that I didn't see coming.Leading lady Irene Hervey is quite beautiful too.

"The Dude Ranger" was the first in a series of film Westerns George O'Brien did for producer Sol Lesser, released by Fox Studios. That collaboration lasted for two years and resulted in a total of eight films. Irene Hervey, who appears as the romantic interest in this one, was also the leading lady in 1935's "Hard Rock Harrigan".Western fans can file this one under the usual plot line in which a back East greenhorn inherits a cattle ranch from his uncle (it's always an uncle), and arrives to find that someone is rustling all the cattle. As can be expected, the main heavy Dale Hyslip (LeRoy Mason) is behind the gang that's robbing caretaker Hepburn (Henry Hall) blind, and he also has eyes for Hepburn's pretty daughter Ann (Irene Hervey). O'Brien's character Selby comes on the scene, and in a case of mistaken identity, decides to play along as a working hand on the ranch in order to do some undercover work. Veteran character actor Sid Saylor provides some interesting work as the rhyme singing sidekick to Selby, going by the name of Nebraska.The story plays out pretty much as you'd expect, but there were two unique elements in the picture that are worth mentioning. An unseen villain's hand dumps a rattlesnake on Selby's bed in the middle of the night, with Nebraska making the save. Later, near the end of the picture when Selby confronts Hyslip over the money stolen from Hepburn's safe, he pretends to shoot the bad guy with an unusual behind the back maneuver that you'll just have to see for yourself. I also found it odd in retrospect that Selby and Hyslip never got into a traditional fist fight throughout the picture. The only time they roughed it up was when Selby knocked him off his horse just prior to the throw down I just mentioned.The Selby/Ann Hepburn relationship see-saws back and forth throughout the story, but you know it has to end with the couple hitching up at the finale. I'd have to say that Irene Hervey is one of the prettiest female leads you'll find in a film going this far back, and that would go for any genre. She made a slew of films into the late 1940's, then popped up in numerous guest spots in dozens of TV series for the rest of her career.

Solidly entertaining in all departments, this Dude will disappoint in only one respect. Some bloodthirsty fans may find it a little lacking in action. Mind you, there was certainly enough for me. I enjoyed the equal measures of romance, humor and mystery. True, the basic plot is a familiar one, but it's given a very classy work-out here.Irene Hervey walks away with the picture's acting honors, closely followed by personable hero O'Brien, surly heavy Mason, and, of all people, comic sidekick Syd Saylor — whom I usually can't stand! That in itself is a sure-fire indication of the top-grade entertainment qualities of script, direction and photography.