Rawhide (1938)

I suspect that one of the reasons movie fans get frustrated with reviewers is that so many reviewers forget that movies can exist just to be fun. Social and artistic merit are wonderful bonuses and critic/historians should look for them, but plain old dumb fun is a worthy reason for a picture to exist, too. Reviewers are not critics and shouldn't overreach by writing about qualities they perhaps know too little about.

Which brings us to Rawhide, a charming little oater starring long-forgotten "B" singing cowboy Smith Ballew as a lawyer in the modern western town of Rawhide. He's looking for a local rancher who is willing to buck the president of the Rancher's Protective Association, which is nothing more than a protection racket. President Ed Saunders (Arthur Loft) has raised the price of ranch supplies to an exorbitant level and has his men rein terror on anyone who brings in goods from out of town.

But here comes baseball legend Lou Gehrig and his sister Peggy (Evalyn Knapp) who refuse to sign with the association and join instead with the lawyer to destroy the RPA. When Saunders, trying to appear friendly, warns Lou that "you don't want to be a holdout," Lou replies with a grin, "Aw, I've been a holdout before."

And that's the fun in this picture, the way screenwriters Dan Jarrett and Jack Natteford slip Gehrig's baseballisms into the story. At one point Lou prevents his sister from signing the contract with Saunders by whacking a baseball through the crook's office window. (The kids of the town scatter like the wind.) In another scene Lou mixes it up--or should I say tommixes it up--in a saloon brawl but tames the baddies by standing behind the pool table and bouncing pool balls off their heads.

Gehrig delivers his lines with a twinkle that reaches from the screen to say, "Hey, look at me--I'm in the movies!" He's not a natural actor, being absent during the heavy emoting, but he is a convincing goof. He can't put his spurs on or mount a horse withouth crawling up its side. When he's thrown the first time he tries to ride, he sits in the dirt and wisecracks "Strike one."

He is marvelously amiable and is a lot more fun to watch than most athletes who moonlight in the movies. He even lip syncs one of the film's four songs. If anything, the guy was a good sport.

Even a die hard Red Sox fan could be forgiven for having a good time with the Pride of the Yankees in this one, directed by Ray Taylor. Play ball!, uh, I mean Action!
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