''Beau Bandit'' is a 1930 American

Pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film, directed by

Lambert Hillyer Lambert Harwood Hillyer (July 8, 1893 – July 5, 1969) was an American film director and screenwriter. Biography Lambert Harwood Hillyer was born July 8, 1893, in Tyner, Indiana. His mother was character actress Lydia Knott. A graduate of ...

, from a screenplay by Wallace Smith, based on his short story, "Strictly Business" which appeared in the April 1929 edition of ''Hearst's International-Cosmopolitan''. The film starred

Rod La Rocque Roderick Ross La Rocque (November 29, 1898 – October 15, 1969) was an American actor. Biography La Rocque was born in Chicago, Illinois to Edmund La Rocque and Ann (née Rice) La Rocque. His father was of French-Canadian descent and his mo ...

, Mitchell Lewis,

Doris Kenyon Doris Margaret Kenyon (September 5, 1897 – September 1, 1979) was an American actress of motion pictures and television. Early life She grew up in Syracuse, New York, where her family had a home at 1805 Harrison Street. Her father, Dr. Ja ...

, and Walter Long. The story is based loosely on the legend of

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depic ...

Plot

Montero is a bandit who, along with his

deaf-mute Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was either deaf and used sign language or both deaf and could not speak. The term continues to be used to refer to deaf people who cannot speak an oral language or have som ...

sidekick, Coloso, are planning to rob a bank. They are pursued by "Bob Cat" Manners and his posse. As they close in on the bank, owned by Perkins, Montero becomes involved in the personal affairs of Helen Wardell and her fiancé, Howard. Perkins is also interested in Wardell, and he also holds the mortgage on Howard's ranch. Finding out that Montero has a price on his head, Perkins uses that fact to coerce Montero into agreeing to kill Howard. Perkins, however, has no intention of paying Montero, instead arranging for the posse to capture the outlaw. Montero fakes Howard's murder, and is expecting a double-cross, so he is prepared for the trap, and instead of being captured, he traps the posse. Montero then holds Perkins hostage, extorting $5,000 from him in exchange for his life, and forces Perkins, who is also Justice of the Peace, to marry Helen and Howard. Adding insult to injury, Montero gives the newlyweds the $5,000 for their honeymoon.

Cast

as Montero *

as Helen Wardell * Mitchell Lewis as Coloso * Walter Long as "Bob Cat" Manners * Charles Middleton as Perkins * George Duryea as Howard *

James Donlan James Donlan (July 23, 1888 – June 7, 1938) was an American actor. Born in San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cul ...

as Buck *

Charles Brinley Charles Brinley (November 15, 1880 – February 17, 1946) was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in 140 films between 1913 and 1939. He was born in Yuma, Arizona and died in Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, ...

as Slim *

Barney Furey Charles Manford "Barney" Furey (September 7, 1886 – January 18, 1938) was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1912 and 1937. He was born in Boise, Idaho and died in Hollywood, California.

as Logan * Bill Patton as Texas

Production

The film was originally titled ''Strictly Business'', RKO changed the name to ''Beau Bandit'' in January 1930. It included the first depiction in a talking film of a deaf character, Coloso. Although sound films could now depict deaf speech, Coloso is also mute, beginning a period in American cinema of portraying silent deaf persons.

Reception

While being generally favorable to the acting in the film, ''

NY Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' critic,

Mordaunt Hall Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934. Cast member George Duryea would become better known by his name Tom Keene, who was a

B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

star in later years; he would also use the name Richard Powers.

References

External links

* * * {{Lambert Hillyer 1930 Western (genre) films 1930 films Films based on short fiction RKO Pictures films Films directed by Lambert Hillyer American Western (genre) films American black-and-white films 1930s American films