Aces and Eights
Aces and Eights
| 06 June 1936 (USA)
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A card sharp steps in when a Mexican family's ranch is threatened by swindlers and cheats.

Reviews
Ameriatch

One of the best films i have seen

Keira Brennan

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

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Payno

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

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Roxie

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

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JohnHowardReid

Director: SAM NEWFIELD. Screenplay: Joseph O'Donnell. Story and continuity; George Arthur Durlam. Photography: Jack Greenhalgh, James Diamond. Film editors: John English, Robert Jahns. Assistant director: William O'Connor. Sound recording: Hans Weeren. Producers: Sigmund Neufeld, Leslie Simmonds. A Puritan Pictures Corp. Production, presented by Bernard Smith. U.S. release: 6 June 1936. 62 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Gambler McCoy reforms when he meets up with square-shooting Marshal Hodgins and a courteous senorita, Luana Walters.COMMENT: As is often the case in "B" westerns, all the action is saved for the climax. Despite this lack of action, however, the card-sharping plot promised by the title does maintain the interest, although sometimes it's a little difficult to follow. A half-hearted murder mystery doesn't help, nor does the similarity between the two villains, Wheeler Oakman and John Merton. Fortunately, Tim McCoy is his usual charismatic self and is given great support here from the likes of Earl Hodgins and Jimmy Aubrey.

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Michael Morrison

Tim McCoy was a real Westerner, a great horseman, and a better actor than most people might think, those considering him "just" a B Western star.This Western is flawed by several Gringos trying, not very successfully, to play Mexicans, but there are many intriguing characters and a complex plot in a story set in Spanish-heritage California and Nevada to more than make up for the flaws.The major locale is Rawhide, Nevada, a real town, now a ghost town, but it once looked like this: http://www.westernmininghistory.com/towns/nevada/rawhidePerhaps the biggest flaw is Rex Lease, who gives good performances in other movies, but here he fails with a Mexican accent, and has trouble mounting his horse.More than compensating for Lease is Earle Hodgins, here called Earl. Often cast as a fast-talking carnival or medicine-show barker, his role here as a marshal is different, perhaps (and reminding in some ways of John Cleese's playing a sheriff in "Silverado"), but he is a capable enough actor to pull it off beautifully.Possibly the most intriguing note, though, is from the great Karl Hackett, who not only narrates at the beginning of "Aces and Eights," but plays that most famous holder of a poker hand of aces and eights, Wild Bill Hickok. And he doesn't even get screen credit.Wheeler Oakman plays the slimy Ace Morgan, and as usual he makes us believe he really is despicable, in a great performance."Aces and Eights" is a flawed movie, with some obviously dubbed-in sound effects and an identical shot of a poker-hand close-up used at least three times.But it stars Tim McCoy. All I ever need to know is It Stars Tim McCoy.I'll watch it, and I'll recommend it. It Stars Tim McCoy, and it's available at YouTube.

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MartinHafer

While no sane person would go so far as to say "Aces and Eights" is a great film, it is a bit better than average for a B-series western. That's because unlike most westerns (and Hollywood made 130234482734 of them), the plot is pretty unusual. What's most unusual is that the hero (Tim McCoy) plays a professional gambler--a first that I can recall. With B-series westerns, usually the hero (Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and the like) plays a government agent or rancher or ranch hand...never a gambler. But, like other heroes, he's a honest professional gambler and what he often does is expose the crooked ones and dispense justice without even using a gun. Apparently, Tim had hands of steel and could just about crush the hands of anyone attempting to shoot him.The film begins with just such a situation--Tim sees that the man gambling with him is cheating by dealing himself aces. When he confronts the guy and they are about to come to blows, the Sheriff suggests they go outside and settle it (I presume to kill each other). But Tim does NOT kill him--just threatens him and leaves. But an unseen hand from behind a tree is waiting. And, when one of the gambler's victims then confronts him, a shot rings out--and the evil gambler is killed. Who did it? Well, at first blame rests on Tim--who is forced to run.Once on the run, Tim meets the family of the man who THINKS he shot the gambler (his gun DID go off but the guy behind the tree really killed him). Then, thanks to Tim, he saves the family fortune and reunites the young man with his grieving father and sister. And, in the end, all is well and the perpetrator of the foul deed is exposed.I liked Tim McCoy's acting--it was simple and direct. The story was good as well--and quite entertaining. For a B-series film, it's among the better ones I've seen. Oh, and by the way, the title refers to a pair of aces and a pair of eights--the same hand held by Wild Bill Hickok when he was shot in the back while gambling.

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rsoonsa

The title refers to the "dead man's hand" which was held by Wild Bill Hickok when he was gunned down during a poker game, and which plays an important part in this limply directed Western which fortunately stars the always poised Tim McCoy, whose piercing glances enfeeble his rivals in his portrayal of "Gentleman" Tim Madigan, an unethical gambler whose finer instincts cause him to assist a beleaguered Mexican family near the California/Nevada border. Madigan survives by his wits as he carries no gun and is given some clever lines, from the uneven screenplay, which McCoy delivers with aplomb, stealing the acting honors with ease in this rather subdued example of the genre, wherein recovery is the keyword: of pride, honor and property.

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