Strawberry Roan

Made in 1933 while cowboy star Ken Maynard was under contract at Universal, this film has better production values than some of his other sound films. For those curious about Maynard and his famous horse Tarzan, this is really a great, enjoyable and unusual Western. This is not really a shot 'em up Western. There is plenty of action, however, in this story of how a Wild Strawberry Roan comes to be tamed.

If you know the famous song, you know the plot of this film. In fact, part of the plot involves a fictionalized account of how the catchy song came to be. Ken displays his limited but real cowboy-like singing abilities. Maynard is sometimes credited as the first singing cowboy in the movies, although Gary Cooper sang a tune in the 1929 Virginian.

Tarzan also shows why he became the famous horse he once was, and has some

memorable and exciting scenes. Tarzan does not play the Strawberry Roan as he is Ken's horse and the Roan is a Wild Horse.

I have been an avid fan with keen appreciation for Ken Maynard since I was just a kid but had never taken a look at this film, "Strawberry Roan." This is because I sensed the film would be merely sentimental and, for the most part, an uninteresting exercise about a horse. But, on the contrary, the film provides a most unusual, involving, and really quite powerful film-viewing experience.

Make not a mistake, the film is a horse story, inspired by the famous cowboy song that predates the film by nearly twenty years, but it is more than that. For me "Roan" is less a story about good vs. Evil than it is a brawny tale of men being men among men and, concomitantly, about horses being horses among horses.

There is so much to enjoy here, beginning, of course, with the lyrical and intense story. The feel is strongly rustic veering on primitive and there is a romantic undercurrent that is stronger than that played up for most B-western heroes (although unpracticed in the ways of on-screen romance, Ken's acting skills here impart a sensitivity that provide an additional perspective to his character). I have always admired Ken's acting style, one hallmark of which is his throwaway chatter, really a form of "bits of business."

Then there is the music, with the song taking a prominent position, most notably by Ken himself, singing beautifully in an affecting, Appalachian style and sawing on the fiddle for accompaniment (I understand that most cowboys of the 1800's indeed came out of Appalachia). Charles King, slender and tender, is shockingly one of Ken's musical cohorts (you've got to love Charles King!)

The introduction to the story, after the beautiful, music-filled opening credits, shows Ken and Tarzan coming across the glowing campfire of a group of singing cowboys after day's work has been done, really serves to get the viewer comfortable and ready for what one begins to suspect will be a film with a difference.

There are little surprises throughout the show, too, including camera angles, astounding locales (possibly including California's Red Rock Canyon area), a tender scene with a deer, and horse fights and other equine antics, including a monumentally-captured horse stampede, and some grand views of a giant, fully-packed (with scores of extras) saloon.

This is a wonderful movie for 1933, with so much and varied content jammed into its hour-long run time. The director Alan James and the entire crew should have been proud and satisfied with the result. The closing scene is beautiful, and even the ending credits, with upwelling music, of course, are marvelous to behold (as it charmingly reads "A good cast is worth repeating").

If you are interested enough to be looking at this movie's IMDb page you definitely need to see it.

Harold Goodwin and his gang have been rustling horses. Everyone thinks it's the wild stallion, The Strawberry Roan, who's been breaking them out. They rope him and bring him down to William Desmond's ranch. He offers his spread to the man who can ride her. Ken Maynard, who's courting Ruth Hall, waits his turn.

Universal certainly knew how to spend their money cannily on their westerns. Although the copy I saw looked like it was cobbled together from an assortment of clips, there's some lovely shots by cinematographer Ted McCord, Nate Gatzert's script works well, and Alan James' direction emphasizes the rough good humor and sense of fair play of the cowboys, rather than the standard backing story. The long riding sequences, instead of going on forever, allow the pacing to cool down; the musical interludes amuse because Ken Maynard can't carry a tune; and the big ending isn't a gallop to chase the bad guys and a shootout, but a herd of wild horses wrecking the ranch, and Ken's attempt to ride the title beast. It's a delightful change of pace from the standard B western.

Some B western fans consider this to be Ken Maynard's best movie, that's why I picked it as the first Maynard movie I've watched since childhood. It's quite disappointing. Ken is a poor actor, worse than most of the B western stars of his era. If you like singing cowboys, you may enjoy him a little bit more, because he does sing as well or better than most of the cowboy singers of the time. Overall acting in this movie was fair, with Ken noticeably having the most trouble with his lines. His horse, Tarzan, is featured in the two best parts of the movie, horse fights. The horse fights looked quite realistic, & either they were real, or Tarzan is quite an accomplished actor. Fairly thin plot, later used by Gene Autry. Save your money on this one, & buy any Hopalong Cassidy movie instead!