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Disturbing yet enthralling

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The earliest 30's westerns usually had better production quality than those made a few years later. Quite often the scripts were interesting because they had not yet recycled everything. Even though the basic plot of Columbia's South of the Rio Grande is nearly the same as 90% of all old westerns, there are some nice changes that make this movie unique. The story is about the Mexican Rurales and one man in particular, Sergeant Carlos Olivarez played by Buck Jones.Seeing Buck Jones as a Mexican Rurale is not hard to accept. He is just a "movie" Mexican instead of a "believeable" Mexican, as are most of the cast. At the time South of the Rio Grande was made many actors played parts outside their own race or ethnicity, but few were able to do it successfully. If one disregards the degree of authenticity in Jones' portrayal of Sergeant Olivarez and concentrates on the spirit of the character, there is a good movie here. Not taking any old western too seriously, I was pleasantly surprised by South of the Rio Grande. Buck Jones was a good actor, and the production quality of this movie made him look better than he did in other movies. Obviously there was enough of a budget to set up good shots on good sets.The crossed paths of the characters stands out and separates South of the Rio Grande from other westerns. There are love interests, friendships, and trusts that drive the characters. Carlos is attracted to Ramon's sister. Ramon is attracted to the woman who ruined Carlos' brother's life. The bonds of Carlos and Ramon's friendship is put to the test. With the exception of the villain Clark and Senor Ruiz, the characters in this movie express a lot of emotions that rarely come to the forefront of a heroic western. The "cowboy stuff" of chases through the desert and gunfights were all carefully placed to keep the movie exciting, but the emphasis was definitely on the characters.

To be sure it's a formula western, involving the usual landgrabbing and skulduggery, but it packs a lot of complications into a mere 60 minutes. Most of this complexity comes from the machinations of slinky femme fatale Mona Maris, working for an unscrupulous oil magnate who is trying to force ranchers to sell their land to him to be used for oil development. She forces one young man to financial ruin and suicide. As it happens, he was the brother of the Rurale Sergeant who was assigned to track down the source of the "bandit" depredations on the ranchers. These bandits were, naturally, working for the oil man. She also seduces a young Rurale Corporal, protege of the Sergeant, and causes a rift between the two. It won't be a surprise to you that with Buck Jones on the job she is headed for trouble, but she spreads a lot of trouble of her own making before that happens.Buck Jones is totally unconvincing as a Mexican, and the rest of the acting is at High School Senior Play level. Direction is pretty sloppy as well, but for all that it is a rather interesting little western. I give it a 6 out 10.