Tumbleweeds (1925)

The government will grant a fringe of terrain for the settlers who want to live and work there. The starting sign will be a gunshot which will iniciate the run for the best fields and ... See full summary »

Directors:

King Baggot (as King Baggott), William S. Hart (uncredited)

Writers:

Hal G. Evarts (story), C. Gardner Sullivan (adaptation)

Stars:

William S. Hart, Barbara Bedford, Lucien Littlefield

Cast

Complete credited cast:
William S. Hart	...	Don Carver (as Wm. S. Hart)
Barbara Bedford	...	Molly Lassiter
Lucien Littlefield	...	Kentucky Rose
J. Gordon Russell	...	Noll Lassiter
Richard Neill	...	Bill Freel (as Richard R. Niell)
Jack Murphy	...	Bart Lassiter
James Gordon	...	Joe Hinman
George F. Marion	...	Old Man (as George Marion)
Gertrude Claire	...	Old Woman
Lillian Leighton	...	Widow Riley
Taylor N. Duncan	...	Cavalry Major (as Ted Duncan)

Storyline

The government will grant a fringe of terrain for the settlers who want to live and work there. The starting sign will be a gunshot which will iniciate the run for the best fields and claims.

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Plot Keywords:

cowboy | sooner | land rush | cherokee strip | lasso | 

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Taglines:

History recorded in heart-throbs!

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 December 1925 (USA)

Also Known As:

Agriohorta

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$312,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

William S. Hart Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min 76 min (Ontario)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ironically, tumbleweeds - the plant this movie is named after - are not native to Texas; they come from Russia.

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Quotes

Don Carver: Boys, it's the last of the West.

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Alternate Versions

The 1939-reissued version was preceded by an eight-minute sound prologue with William S. Hart introducing the film.

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Connections

Featured in Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs (2000)

User Reviews

End of an era movie about the end of an era

One of the last silent westerns and William Hart's swan song, "Tumbleweeds" is about the settlement of the 'old west' and the end of the (largely mythical) 'cowboy' way of life. The closing shot of drifting tumbleweeds being stopped by barb wire fence pretty much sums up the film. William Hart is 'Don Carver', a drifter, a 'tumbleweed', who gets caught up in the 1893 Cherokee Strip land rush along with his sidekick, 'Kentucky Rose' (Lucian Littlefield). Typical of silent films, the acting is somewhat overly dramatic at times (except for po-faced Hart) but otherwise the film has held up remarkably well and, to some degree, reflects modern sensibilities more than many of the myriad westerns that followed (for example: the Indians Carver encounters are his friends and there are African Americans and capable, independent women in the race for homesteads). There are a number of very effective scenes, such as the countdown to the "maddest stampede in American History', the stampede itself, and shots paralleling Hart riding at full gallop that must have been challenging to obtain. The film is also quite comic at times, notably the ol' widder women checking out Kentucky's butt when he bends over or tough-guy Hart's faintness around women and his solution to a persistent cowlick before going a'courtin'. The biggest downside to the version I watched (on the "Silver Screen Classics" channel) was the score, which (IMO) was often intrusive and inappropriate to the scene. I don't know if other versions are available. Score aside, the film is well worth watching for its own sake, as well as for its place in cinematic history. Followed six years later by "Cimarron", a similar retelling of the great land race that was the only Western to win a Best Picture Oscar until "Dances with Wolves" in 1990.