There are buffs who signal American EMPIRE as an unusual and likable western; they are right about a degree of relative originality. Nicely paced, this flick is pretty well made. The plot isn't very interesting, and it's not an exciting and lively movie; but it looks better than the regular westerns of those times. I'm kind of a fan of this movie. As a genre, American EMPIRE isn't as a matter of fact a western, but a melodrama; a ranch melodrama.
Gracelessly played by the two aging male leads (the distinguished and oldie Preston Foster and Richard Dix), this charming light ancient comedy manages, for a little while, before it quickly turns into romance, some kind of a screwball western—or western screwball; which would of been interesting to follow on, but, as I said, they traded screwball for romance. The action begins in the aftermath of the civil war. Two boatmen, Bryce and Taylor, turn into ranch-men. They sailed, they ride, now they have a cattle ranch. A sister for one of them means a lover for the other.
Then we are, with our Texans, in 1874. Bryce (played by Preston Foster), now a family man and a powerful owner of cattle, has become a heartless guy; in his individualism, he even opposes progress as represented by the railroad, he believes only in the sharpest concurrency, he concedes nothing. Even his relatives resent him.
Bryce's wife is played by the hot Frances Gifford, some girl .
What is the American EMPIRE? Bryce's ranch.
The scene of the firewall is awesome.
The folks depicted in these naive ancient westerns are usually _asexualized, generous and decent, conventionally horny sometimes.
The title of Cristian Ciopron's review should not mislead—the characters leave the river—for cattle, love and family—quite early in the movie.
Gracelessly played by the two aging male leads (the distinguished and oldie Preston Foster and Richard Dix), this charming light ancient comedy manages, for a little while, before it quickly turns into romance, some kind of a screwball western—or western screwball; which would of been interesting to follow on, but, as I said, they traded screwball for romance. The action begins in the aftermath of the civil war. Two boatmen, Bryce and Taylor, turn into ranch-men. They sailed, they ride, now they have a cattle ranch. A sister for one of them means a lover for the other.
Then we are, with our Texans, in 1874. Bryce (played by Preston Foster), now a family man and a powerful owner of cattle, has become a heartless guy; in his individualism, he even opposes progress as represented by the railroad, he believes only in the sharpest concurrency, he concedes nothing. Even his relatives resent him.
Bryce's wife is played by the hot Frances Gifford, some girl .
What is the American EMPIRE? Bryce's ranch.
The scene of the firewall is awesome.
The folks depicted in these naive ancient westerns are usually _asexualized, generous and decent, conventionally horny sometimes.
The title of Cristian Ciopron's review should not mislead—the characters leave the river—for cattle, love and family—quite early in the movie.