Boys' Ranch

I want to rush to the defense of Butch Jenkins, railed at by another reviewer who found his performance to be "wooden." Perhaps he wasn't paying attention, but "wooden" was what his character was supposed to be. He played a boy who had been raised by an old grandfather with very little understanding of childhood, leaving Jenkins' character an emotionally distant little adult, with very little experience or understanding of child-like pleasures. I caught this movie about a month ago and Jenkins was the best thing about this movie. It was nice to see Skip Homier in another youthful role after "Tomorrow the World," though I wasn't terribly impressed with his performance. A major plot devices was rather simplistic and contrived: A rich man will give the land for the ranch if it does well, but after one of the lamest thefts in movie history, he may reconsider and the whole future of the ranch is threatened.

MGM, the same studio that bought you the more critically acclaimed Boystown, produced this film about a ballplayer, James Craig, who takes a job as superintendent of a ranch where boys in legal trouble go to get straightened out before reaching the age of majority.

Of course James Craig is hardly Spencer Tracy, but he shouldn't be blamed for that. He turns in a nice easy to take performance as the secular Father Flanagan of the film.

Of course the irredeemable bad kid, the role Mickey Rooney had, is played with a little more menace by Skip Homeier. Homeier had made a great screen debut as the little boy Nazi in Tomorrow the World. In fact, he's quite an operator here, so much so that the situation that does redeem him in the end does not quite ring true.

Still it's a nice family picture and with Boys Ranch still operating, surprising it's not shown more often.

I have never understood MGM's push in the 1940s to make Butch Jenkins their next big child star. While the studio was very successful with Margaret O'Brien and a few other child stars, Jenkins never gained the same sort of favor with the public. I honestly think it was for two big reasons. First, he was a homely child and not freakin' adorable like Natalie Wood or other big child stars. Second, I really don't think he was a very good actor and much of the time on screen he just looked dull and lost. Why MGM put him in so many films (some of which were BIG productions, like "Our Vines Have Tender Grapes"), I have no idea....but as you can see for the poster on IMDB for the film, the studio pushed hard to make the boy a star. Oddly, however, he doesn't appear in "Boy's Ranch" for the first half hour! And, while not being top billed, Skip Homeier was the actual star of the film.

Considering the great success the studio had with "Boys Town" back in 1938, it's not all that surprising that they'd later try to duplicate this success. Both stories are nearly identical in many ways but the setting and stars were different. So, instead of Spencer Tracy as a kind priest who runs a Catholic orphanage, James Craig plays a pro baseball player who starts a ranch for homeless boys. Both have the punk who refuses to be rehabilitated who is the star (Mickey Rooney in the former and Skip Homeier in the latter) and a 'cute kid' (Bobs Watson in the former and Butch Jenkins in the latter). So, don't expect a lot of originality or surprises in "Boys' Ranch"....though it is pleasant and entertaining.

When the story begins, Don Walker (Craig) is taking a break from baseball and ends up becoming involved with a couple troubled homeless teens (Skip Homeier and Darryl Hickman). After Walker convinces locals to provide land and funds for a home for boys, he makes his first two residents these boys. Hank (Hickman) buys into the ranch life, Skip (Homeier) is a cynical jerk....just looking for a chance to take off. Soon more boys are welcomed to the ranch and things appear to be going well....but what about evil Skip, the school bully, thief and all-around jerk?

This is a modestly entertaining film. Homeier and Hickman were very good and the story kept my interest. But on the other hand, it was too much like "Boys Town" to make it a must-see film and Jenkins was, once again, not particularly good or even necessary.

"This is the story of a new kind of ranch. It is in Potter County, Texas, not far from Amarillo, and it raises a new kind of crop - men. This crop of men is raised from boys who might otherwise have gone wrong. It all began at a baseball park one day in midsummer…" Like "Boys Town" (1938), this "Boys' Ranch" was (and still is) a real place. In MGM's film version, skinny Skip "Skippy" Homeier (as Skippy) and his cute pal Daryl Hickman (as Hank) say goodbye to handsome ballplayer James Craig (as Dan Walker) by giving him an expensive knife. However, the teenage boys stole the knife and are picked up by the police...

Benched by his coach, Mr. Craig moves to a ranch with his pretty blonde wife Dorothy Patrick (as Susan) and pigtailed preteen daughter Sharon McManus (as Mary). Craig agrees to be a parole officer for Mr. Homeier and Mr. Hickman, finding them bed and board at a nearby ranch. Alas, they are neglected and run away. When Homeier's appendix bursts, Craig finds Hickman and a group of the boys living at an empty ranch owned by Ray Collins (as Davis Banton). Craig decides to start "Boys' Ranch" for orphaned and neglected youth. Because the boys are considered "hoodlums", the ranch is put on probation...

Craig grows a mustache to look more "dignified" for his boys and welcomes ornery preteen Jackie "Butch" Jenkins (as Butch Taylor) to the group. The story loses its pace as we overdose on comic relief antics with young Jenkins, who even sings a song. Possibly, when Jenkins was signed, MGM ordered his part expanded. Jenkins is top-billed and bloody-nosed Rudy Wissler (as Rudy) is a glaring omission in the "cast" credits. Likable and unique, Jenkins was the biggest "box office" draw in the group. However, the star is Homeier and the focus slowly returns to his incorrigible character's climactic salvation.

****** Boys' Ranch (7/18/46) Roy Rowland ~ Skip Homeier, James Craig, Daryl Hickman, Jackie "Butch" Jenkins

James Craig gives over a ranch for boys ( although some look well over eighteen, and most are near to sixteen or over, so I think in today's terms this title is misleading, ) who are close to the wire of becoming criminals, or simply unwanted in ' society. ' The UK was clearly wary of the film as they gave it an ' A ' certificate aiming the film at adults and children under sixteen only seeing it with an adult. The craziness of this needs I think to be pointed out. Butch Jenkins is one of them, but he is not quite given enough to warrant the lead part on posters. It should have been given to Skip Homeier and Darryl Hickman as their close relationship is at the heart of the film. There is a strong platonic love between them, and Hickman spends a lot of his screen time on getting his friend Homeier out of trouble, and the chemistry between them is electric. James Craig has a wife in the film, but she has few scenes and this is almost entirely a male film. Without giving away spoilers Hickman gets very near to death due to his friend Skippy ( Homeier ) and it is Skippy who wakes up to the fact that he has to rescue his friend. How this happens is deeply moving and shows a great deal of love, and perhaps viewers could be uncomfortable at naming it as love. Directed by the talented Roy Rowland all the emotional stops are pulled out to make this a very fine film on male love and deep friendship. Beautifully filmed it deserves a ten.