Toll Gate, The (1920)
*** (out of 4)
Outlaw Black Deering (William S. Hart) wants to retire after his gang's latest robbery but they convince him to go after one more score. His partner ends up selling him out for the reward money and Deering swears vengeance no matter how long it takes. He manages to escape from the posse and ends up on a small farm where he saves the life of a young boy and becomes apart of his mother's life. Soon Deering wants to start life fresh with them but his past is close behind. If you've seen any of Hart's Westerns made before THE TOLL GATE then you're going to be thinking that this is a remake of about three dozen of them. In all seriousness, if you've seen one Hart picture then you basically get the same story one film to the next but it says a lot about the persona of Hart that he managed to make each film so fresh and exciting even when it offers up nothing new. At 70-minutes the film never gets boring as we're treated to some nice drama as well as a couple very good action scenes. The opening scenes of the men trying to rob the train were pretty exciting and the ending with Hart trying to track down the man who set him up also offers some nice tension. The majority of the film features the same old story of Hart being a very bad man who falls for a woman who then makes him want to change his ways. At least in this film his character goes through a transformation where the viewer can at least understand and see why he would want to change his ways. There are several cute scenes between the little boy and Hart that really make the film stand out. The boy never got to know his real father so he looks forward to having a new dad in his life and this here makes for some very good moments. Hart fits the role with ease as by this time he could do this type of role in his sleep. He's benefited from a very strong supporting cast including Anna Q. Nilsson as the mother and Richard Headrick as the kid. Tom Jordan does a very good job playing the snake who turns Hart in. The film also benefits from some authentic scenery that really helps build up an atmosphere of being in the Old West. While the story is something we've seen before, the film is a good example of how you can bring fresh life to an old tale and with Hart's performance you walk away satisfied.
