Border Law (1931)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Louis King

Writer:

Stuart Anthony (story)

Release Date:

15 October 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

See the Ace of Outdoor Stars Lead the Bandits into the Rangers' Trap and Win a Dancing Senorita!

Plot:

When Shag Smith kills Jim's brother Bob, Jim and Thunder quit the rangers so they can cross the border and join Smith's gang...

Plot Keywords:

Gang | Ranger | Brother | Lawman | Law And Order

Cast

Buck Jones	...	Jim Houston - Texas Ranger
Lupita Tovar	...	Tonita
Jim Mason	...	Shag Smith (as James Mason)
Frank Rice	...	Thunder Rogers - Texas Ranger
Don Chapman	...	Bob Houston - Texas Ranger
Lou Hicks	...	Henchman Dave (as Louis Hickus)
F.R. Smith	...	Captain John Wilkes - Texas Ranger
John Wallace	...	'Pegleg' Barnes

Runtime:

63 min | USA:61 min (Sony Pictures Television print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Ranch - 2813 Cornell Road, Agoura, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Quotes:

'Pegleg' Barnes: See that there limb?
[holds up his peg leg]
'Pegleg' Barnes: That comes from the tree where Sitting Bull used to sit.
Jim Houston, Texas Ranger: No!
'Pegleg' Barnes: Come by my barber shop and I'll give you everything from a haircut to a bath.
Jim Houston, Texas Ranger: Thanks, pardner. I'll take the haircut, but you can give him
[Thunder]
Jim Houston, Texas Ranger: the bath.
Thunder Rogers, Texas Ranger: Aw, I ain't dirty.
Jim Houston, Texas Ranger: I suppose that's sunburn, huh?

Movie Connections:

Remade as Whistlin' Dan (1932)

Soundtrack:

If You Fall in Love

So Much Has Changed (?)

In the time of "Brokeback Mountain" it is fun to look back over past epics of Western Machoness with undercurrents of gay subtext. Ultra manly, muscular, and handsome Jones is particularly fascinating now....given his slightly overstated wardrobe (big hats for a big man?)and seeming inability to ever fully button any of his shirts (or refrain from getting bare chested at least once a feature).

Add in his butt slapping horseplay with the young actor playing his younger brother (complete with wrestling around with him when the kid is in only his underwear in the opening scene)and the bar brawl scene where Jones is taunted to "Strip Down and Go At It" (!) by the chief baddie who succeeds in getting our hero to undress and roll around the dirty floor with a particularly hunky if nasty junior bad guy....and the subtext is much more genuine than Jones' ever so stiff and courtly flirting with Lopita Tovar...

Purists will scoff....but there is no denying the overtones that were probably innocent then...but seem pretty overt now.