Simply A Masterpiece

A Major Disappointment

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Filmed on location in Montana with Crow Indians from the local reservation, this is certainly an action-packed Ken Maynard outing featuring lots of Ken's trick riding (some of it obviously doubled) as well as the obligatory Indians-on-the warpath footage. The movie is also laced with a great deal of spectacular stock material from an earlier movie I'm not able to identify. Alas, what with tram-lines galore and poor exposure, this stock footage stands out from the rest of the movie like the proverbial sore toe.However, Maynard himself comes across most agreeably. In fact, we wish we could have seen more of him and less of outrageously over-acting Paul Hurst and his comic relief threesome. Fortunately, J.P. McGowan takes up some of the slack as the fort commander with ladies on his mind. The heroine herself is a nice lass, but has little to do. Even uncredited Lafe McKee is handed a better innings.

I can't say that I have seen every Ken Maynard film ever made, but I have seen enough of them to compare. This is one of the better movies he made. The Red Raiders has Maynard in a cavalry setting with a feel much like the movies John Wayne would make twenty years later. There is a feisty Irishman in charge of the troops. A rivalry for the attention of the women in the fort is also played out. As Lt. John Scott, Maynard is constantly a dedicated soldier with only a few moments of comedy. Unlike other westerns from Ken Maynard's career, The Red Raiders is more serious in its approach to telling its story. However, it still has the elements that were commonly found in westerns: a relationship between a horse and rider, a strong hero, and just enough humor to keep things lively.When Lt. Scott is to be assigned a horse, the men switch his horse with the troublesome Tarzan. Scott breaks Tarzan in a scene that showcases not only Maynard's riding ability, but the training of Tarzan, too. The entire movie is full of great riding scenes. This was a strong point for The Red Raiders.The Red Raiders is about cavalry fighting indians. The indians in this movie are split between the old chief who accepts the move to a reservation and the young warrior, Lone Wolf, who wants to fight the white men. Chief Yowlachie is as strong in his role as Lone Wolf as Maynard is as Lt. Scott.To describe a raid by the indians, the word "terrorism" appears in this 1927 movie in this context: "After a night of terrorism ....Outraged settlers gather at the fort to demand protection."