The Terror of Tiny Town
The Terror of Tiny Town
| 01 December 1938 (USA)
The Terror of Tiny Town Trailers

Using a conventional Western story with an all dwarf cast, the filmmakers were able to showcase gags such as cowboys entering the local saloon by walking under the swinging doors, and pint-sized cowboys galloping around on Shetland ponies while roping calves.

Reviews
Rainey Dawn

I am happy to report that there is nothing politically incorrect about this film - even though it is considered to be politically incorrect. What is so politically incorrect about little people finding work in the film industry OR for little people to have a western film? The film is no different than watching regular sized people in an older B western.Back then little people were called midgets and that term was used happily at the beginning of the film. Midget was used until the later half of the 20th century when the term became short person or little person. Today the term midget is considered to be politically incorrect and offensive. You have to remember that the term was fine during the time this film was made.The film itself is fine! There is nothing wrong with the movie - it's a cute comedy western - no different than other B comedy westerns of it's time era except it's an all little people cast. It's a cute movie like any other cute movie full of regular sized people.I like The Chef in this movie... some of his stuff is funny.4/10

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utgard14

Fun little western with an all-midget cast. I first saw clips of this back in the '90s in the Hal Ketchum music video for "Small Town Saturday Night." The plot's pretty standard stuff about cattle rustlers and the like with a Romeo & Juliet romantic subplot. But no one is watching this for the plot. They're watching for the novelty of seeing midgets play cowboys, riding little ponies and such. It's all terribly cute and fun with some nice songs, to boot. Apparently the "Oh my stars & garters" crowd have their knickers in a twist over the exploitation of these midget actors. Whatever. They are all having a good time acting and making a living. No one is humiliated in this and I fail to see how it hurts anyone, living or dead. But you know how some people got to have something to whine about. Anyway, it's a cute little B movie that isn't supposed to be taken too seriously. A nice way to kill an hour.

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classicsoncall

Since adding the Encore Western Channel to my cable TV lineup I've been overdosing on that particular genre, so I thought I'd take a break to check out a four disc, twenty movie DVD package I picked up from Mill Creek Entertainment. It's called 'Cult Classics', and the title that immediately called out to me was "Terror Of Tiny Town". Wouldn't you know it, the darn thing turned out to be a midget Western. No, not a short feature, but a movie with an all midget cast! It came out the same year as another novelty Western featuring an all Black cast called "Two Gun Man From Harlem".The principle is pretty much the same here. Take your standard 'B' oater, pit your white hat hero against a dastardly villain, and populate it with nothing but midget actors. What's sort of cool in the story is the early misdirection which seems to implicate Tex Preston (Billy Platt) as a cattle rustler before it's revealed there's a third party villain working the Preston's against the Lawson's. Bat Haines (Little Billy Rhodes) is as nasty a villain as you'll find in any John Wayne, Roy Rogers or Durango Kid picture, even to the tune of keeping the local sheriff in his pocket.The hero of the piece, Buck Lawson is played by Billy Curtis in his very first film role. Obviously he caught someone's eye to recommend casting him as the mayor of Munchkin Land in 1939's "Wizard of Oz", from there going on to a rather prodigious movie career. Western fans will note the resemblance between the young Curtis in 'Tiny Town' and the sixty four year old actor who was made mayor of Lago by The Stranger in "High Plains Drifter". To his credit, Curtis did his best to stay away from roles that denigrated little people, and did a credible job here.Still, it's hard watching the picture not to crack up every now and then over inadvertently funny scenes like the midget cowboys riding on their Shetland ponies, or walking into a saloon under the swinging door. The movie opted to drift back and forth between a normal adult size world and a miniature one to achieve different effects; the scene I thought was exceptional was the one that played out with the runaway stagecoach built to little people scale. Some of the goofier scenes involved pint size singers whose voices were obviously dubbed."The Terror of Tiny Town" won't make anyone's best films list, but you know, it really shouldn't be on anyone's worst list either. Take it with a grain of salt and you'll probably be entertained. A couple questions need answering though. Why was that penguin in the middle of the movie? And if a regular cowboy fires a six-shooter, does a midget use a three-shooter?

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babeth_jr

This movie is a cult classic. The main reason it is a classic, of course, is that the cast is made up entirely of little people (or midgets, as they were referred to back in the 1930's, when this movie was made.)I can only imagine some bigwigs in Hollywood sitting around the boardroom table, and someone saying, "Hey...let's make a western musical with an all midget cast!" and everyone chiming in and saying, "Yeah, that's a great idea!". I mean, what were they thinking? Now let me start off by saying I have nothing at all against little people. But the premise for this movie is pretty bizarre. Was it meant to be serious, or taken as a joke? It is exploitation of the midget actors, making fun of them, or was it meant to be a serious attempt at a western musical, just starring little people? These questions go mainly unanswered.I think the actors performed with all seriousness in their roles, even though it seems to me that the script was poking fun at them, having them ride miniature ponies (which is hilarious to see) and having them walk under normal size barroom doors and the like.Other than the cast being made up entirely of little people, there is nothing to distinguish this movie from the hundreds of other westerns made during the 1930's...low budget, cheap sets, terrible acting and atrocious songs (The song, "The Wedding of Jack and Jill", is unintentionally a howler). I think everyone should see this movie at least once. It happens to be a part of a 20 movie DVD compilation put out by Mill Creek Entertainment entitled "Cult Classics". It has the notorious movies "Reefer Madness", "Cocaine Fiends", "Sex Mad" and "Terror of Tiny Town", as well as many others included in the set. Most of these movies are exploitation films of the thirties and they are a gas to watch.

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