The Thundering Herd (1933) User Reviews

Oh, Give Me A Home Where The Buffalo Roam.

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 18 July 2004]

This is one of a group of westerns that Randolph Scott's home studio of Paramount assigned to him. Filmed previously as a silent and taking use of a lot of the action sequences from the silent version, Thundering Herd's source was one of Zane Grey's novels.

This is not the Randolph Scott we became acquainted with post World War Two in the westerns he did then. He plays a callow youth here, although he's 35 in real life. He's in the employ of a Harry Carey and Raymond Hatton, partners in a buffalo hunting outfit. Carey and Hatton run an honest group, but there's a rival outfit headed by Noah Beery, Sr. which gets hides the easy way, murdering whites and/or Indians for them.

Randolph Scott has a hankering for Judith Allen who's Beery's stepdaughter. Of course so has Beery to the discomfort of his wife, Blanche Frederici. Throw in a buffalo stampede and an Indian attack and I think you can figure the rest out.

It's good action from Paramount's B picture unit.

Randy sports a pencil moustache

[weezeralfalfa · 6/10 · 29 March 2012]

This very early film in Scott's career is the only one in which I've seen him sporting a pencil moustache(or any facial hair). Sometimes, I wondered if I was looking at Brian Donlevy, not realizing how much more they look alike with the moustache factor thrown in... Buster Crabbe is listed near the top of the credits, but only appears in the first segment, as a stage driver. Clearly, his brief appearance was meant to attract more female viewers...Harry Carey, a top cowboy draw during the silent era, has now been relegated to supporting roles, playing Clark Sprague, owner of the Sprague trading post, and bison shooting outfits. John Wayne had great respect for Carey's typical portrayal of westerners. Two of Carey's last film parts were in the Wayne-starring "Angel and the Badman" and "Red River"... Noah Beery played Randall Jett, boss of a hide- thieving buffalo shooting outfit.He and his more famous brother, Wallace, often played heavy villains...Jett's bossy, plain -looking, wife, Jane, is played by Bianche Friderici, who mostly played similar roles in other films...Judith Allen is the tomboyish Milly Fayre, stepdaughter of the Jetts, but with a bad relationship with both. She needs a good man(Randy's character) to rescue her from her intolerable life.

Randy's character, an experienced bison hunter, is a new hire for Sprague. Clearly, he has had a prior romantic relationship with Milly, as she jumps on a stage from her horse, looking for him. Later, they meet in the bush and plan to be married that night.But Randell catches her trying to ride out of the Jett camp, and she is put under guard. He has an incestuous relationship with her. Randy later catches up with the Jetts, on the move, but is wounded and knocked out trying to rescue Milly. The Jetts capture two Sprague wagons filled with hides.Later, the Sprague camp will be threatened by a bison stampede and a large 'Indian' war party. In contrast, the Jetts don't suffer from the bison, 'Indians', nor a reprisal from the Spragues. They are looking forward to more lucrative hide thievery during the early winter, as hide wagons get bogged down in deep snow.(Winter bison hides brought more money, as they were thicker-haired).But just then, as things are looking desperate for the Spragues, disaster hits the Jetts(see the film to find out their demise).

At the time this film was made, there were still only a relatively small number of American bison. Hence we didn't see any actual killings of bison, only stock footage of them being chased. In addition to the domestic market, there was a large European market for the hides at this time. They were especially valued as making a superior leather used as the belts for transferring steam power to machinery, as well as for personal items, such as hats, coats, boots and handbags.After the flesh disappeared, hunting parties returned to their killing fields to gather the bones, which were shipped east to make fertilizer and other products. Ironic that the meat, the most valued part of bison today, was the least valued under the technological conditions of those times(no refrigeration, no good substitute for machinery belts).

You may have noticed some rugged country in the foreground(especially the stage run) and background during parts of this film. Much of the action was filmed in the rugged Alabama Hills, near Lone Pine, with the high Sierras in the background. This was a favored location for filming many westerns, including most of the Hopalong Cassidy series. The often rounded granite boulders and monoliths are geologically similar to the granite in the Sierras, and represent the peaks of granite bodies buried within the sediments of Owens Valley.

Randolph Scott's least heroic hero role?

[lotekguy-1 · 5/10 · 10 February 2021]

The cast is solid, making the film's best asset the chance to see younger versions of familiar faces we mainly know from oaters of the '40s and '50s. Scott sports the sort of thin mustache mostly seen on crooked dealers and land-grabbing bankers in the Old West. Even worse, he doesn't shoot ANYONE, and gets the crap kicked out of him in his only fist fight. Humble beginnings, indeed.

Stampede Scenes

[rockymtvr · 1 August 2007]

The stampede scenes were filmed at the Lamar Valley Buffalo Ranch in Yellowstone National Park.

There were only 24 buffalo left in the world on 1901, so Congress appropriated funds in 1902 to prevent their extinction and the few wild buffalo in Yellowstone were gradually mixed with some ranch animals from Texas and Montana.

The park rangers in the past would sometimes stampede the herd for movies and visitors.

There are now 3,500..4,000 buffalo in YNP, but any that wander outside the boundaries are shot or rounded up and sent to slaughter.

Despite a really good cast and a salacious story line, this one is pretty dull.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 28 January 2016]

The cast of "The Thundering Herd" is very impressive...with Randolph Scott, Buster Crabbe, Harry Carey, Barton MacLane, Noah Beery and Raymond Hatton--all very familiar western actors of the day. And, the story is based on a Zane Grey story. And, it has a salacious subplot involving a step-dad that is WAYYY too interested in his step- daughter. Yet, amazingly, it's not that interesting and you could easily do better. Now this isn't to say it's a bad film...but it should have been a lot better.

The story is about a nice guy (Scott) who is in love with a nice girl. However, her sleazy step-dad (Beery) has way too much interest in her and it's obvious the film is STRONGLY implying incest. When the nice guy goes to get his girl in order to marry her, the sleazy step-dad shoots him and beats him up! The guy is too hurt to do anything but let his friends care for him and his desire to save the girl and get revenge will have to wait until he's healed AND they've gone on the buffalo hunt. This includes a lot of nice footage of the animals at Yellowstone...otherwise the big confrontation is a fizzle and the film was quite dull. The lack of any incidental music didn't help any.

"It's our duty to save that boy from makin' a life long mistake."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 7 January 2012]

Zane Grey Westerns were apparently good early vehicles for Henry Hathaway and Randolph Scott. Hathaway's first directorial effort was 1932's "Heritage of the Desert", which also featured Scott in his first starring film role. Scott also appeared in 1934's "Wagon Wheels", a remake of 1931's "Fighting Caravans", both based on the Grey story of the same name. One of the plot lines of this picture follows that of 'Caravans', whereby the hero Tom Doan (Scott) has intentions of marrying the story's romantic interest (Judith Allen as Milly Fayre), but a couple of grizzled old timers (Harry Carey and Ray Hatton) find it objectionable. Guess who wins out?

There's also a creepy element offered here with the character of Randall Jett (Noah Beery), who has designs of his own on stepdaughter Milly. This doesn't sit well with Mrs. Jett (Blanche Friderici), who for my money, might be the meanest female character I've run across in just about any picture, and that includes Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West. Jett's also a mean cuss in his own right, operating a rival fur trade operation to the Sprague outfit, based on banditry against whites and Indians alike.

The film utilizes a fair amount of stock footage at the opening as well as in sequences involving the buffalo stampedes of the title, which I learned from other posters on this board were first used in the silent version of this movie from 1925. There were a couple of other cool elements as well, like the use of a leveraged timber to temporarily replace a broken wagon wheel, and Randolph Scott's use of a tree limb during a running dismount to see his gal. The only question I have as far as the story goes - whatever happened to Buster Crabbe?

Shuffling off the buffalo.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 19 March 2020]

While this film has several good things about it, a strongly structured story is not one of them, at least what is on screen in the variation of this Zane Grey novel. Indeed, a good portion of the story deals with the white man's killing of the sacred buffalo, potentially creating a war with the natives who, in obviously false very dark makeup, prepare to start a war that never happens. The white men are only after the buffalo skins and that sets the natives off who see the white men as evil and destructive. Unfortunately, the storyline is never really developed, and this obviously deserved more of an A treatment then what the B unit from Paramount gave it. Where this does have strength is in its secondary story which involves buffalo skin hunter Noah Beery, his stepdaughter Judith Allen and Beery's embittered second wife, Blanche Frederici who resents Allen for stirring up lust in her husband. It is obvious that Beery hates his wife, and from the looks of her, it is seemingly justified, making the viewer wonder how they got together in the first place.

Of course, this has to have a handsome hero, and that is Randolph Scott, in love with Allen, yet separated from her and determined to wed her. it is obvious that Allen is fond of her stepfather, unaware of his lecherous feelings, but when she learns that Scott is returning, she is anxious to be reconciled with him. There are also good supporting performances by Harry Carey and Barton MacLane, but it is Frederici whom you will remember here, as dark a lady as Mary Morris in "Double Door", Gale Sondergaard in "The Letter", and Blanche Yurka in anything. The confrontation between Beery and Frederici towards the end raises this up a notch in my rating for the dramatic impact that it has.

Randloph Scott Finds Love While Killing Buffalo!

[FightingWesterner · 7/10 · 12 April 2010]

Randolph Scott, Harry Carey, and Raymond Hatton trade buffalo hides and fend off bandits led Noah Beery, his fiancé's lecherous stepfather. Shot and left for dead when he comes for his bride, Scott wanders around with his partners, looking for a chance to claim his girl and running afoul of Indians upset at the decimation of the buffalo.

Though not as satisfying as some other entries in Paramount's Zane Grey series, it's still pretty decent with a great cast, excellent production values (for a B-western), and a fairly engaging, though somewhat darker than usual script.

One problem though, is that third-billed Buster Crabbe appears only briefly near the beginning of the film and disappears for the duration of the movie. They should have found some room for him!

The thundering herd

[coltras35 · 5/10 · 19 April 2024]

Buffalo stampedes... Indian attacks... Plundering bandits... Doan braved them all when he rode into the badlands... and rode out with a beautiful girl!

Both Sprague, Jett and their crews are hunting buffalo. Doan (Randolph Scott) is with Sprague crew and is looking for the Jett outfit where his girlfriend Milly is being held against her will. In addition to the thieving Jett who is stealing Sprague's furs, the Indians are gathering to attack all the white buffalo hunters.

Thundering Herd is quite a raw and primitive western which has some drama and conflict, rugged scenery and the characters -the Jetts- are rather primitive and uncouth degenerates. They do come across real as does the landscape and experiences. There's some good camera angles - but it can be a bit ponderous and dull.

randolph scott chases the buffalo.

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 10 June 2022]

Roku has this as buffalo stampede, but imdb has it as thundering herd.

Stars western regular randolph scott and judith allen, in her very first role. In the 1870s, with good prices being paid for buffalo hides, honest cowboys hunted them. And dis-honest thieves tried to hijack them. Co-stars noah beery, buster crabbe. Add a battle with the native american indians. Throw in a love story between the lead characters, and you've got a western. Many of the scenes were cut and pasted from the 1925 silent version, but they are much darker. It's pretty easy to see which are the newer scenes and which are the old. Some great shots of buffalo stampeding, with various snowy mountains in the background. Directed by henry hathaway. Very outspoken and gruff. Some funny quotes in his bio here on imdb. Looks like he worked on seven films with john wayne. Book by the famous and popular zane grey, who had written a zillion and one westerns. According to imdb, this was filmed at the alabama hills and in yellowstone. When you are in lone pine, see if the museum of western film history is open... they might be showing a film that evening, probably written by zane grey. Fun stuff!

Great directing of excellent cast in superlative story

[morrisonhimself · 10/10 · 12 September 2015]

Action galore within a well-crafted and beautifully presented story make this one of the very best B westerns ever made.

Randolph Scott's mustache is rather jarring, to those of us who have never seen him with one, but he gives an excellent and athletic performance, joined by one of the finest casts ever assembled in a B western.

Bad guys are really bad, with Noah Beery giving one of his best performances as the worst of the bad guys ... although Mrs. Bad Guy is about as rough and evil as any woman I've ever seen in a B western.

This is not only brilliant story-telling, but it is brilliant acting.

And brilliant directing.

Henry Hathaway surpasses other possibly better-known and more highly regarded directors with his moving camera and his shots of moving horses and wagons and buffalo. (His last years, though, saw him faltering badly as he almost ruined, with the aid of a miserable script from Marguerite Roberts, "True Grit." But admire his work here and don't think about how badly he stumbled toward the end.)

One wonderful aspect of "The Thundering Herd" is an active female lead, played by Judith Allen. OK, maybe there was a stunt man, but so what? The character is one to admire, and one to wish there had been and were now more of: a strong and active female who did more than cower in her man's arms.

Excellent writing, and an excellent and exciting bunch of characters, and an excellent action-packed finale.

"The Thundering Herd" is available at YouTube in a pretty good print. I highly recommend this movie.

Good Cast, Fair Story

[Snow Leopard · 9 August 2002]

It's not too bad, but the good cast builds up expectations for this Western that are not really fulfilled. The story is just fair, and only the occasional good action scenes keep it going. It stars Randolph Scott, and has a good supporting cast that includes the likes of Harry Carey, Buster Crabbe, and more. The story has quite a bit going on, most of it focusing on rival groups of buffalo hunters. A lot happens, but much of the time it doesn't seem to fit together that well, and there are some slow stretches that could easily have been shortened or omitted. It's worth a look for the cast if you like older Westerns, but don't expect too much.

Taking a Look at "The Thundering Herd"

[glennstenb · 8/10 · 13 January 2020]

As I look over the several reviews that are available about "The Thundering Herd," what hits me first is that there is such a wide range of opinion about it, from bad all the way to great. Some say the acting is great, some say bad. So, if my review were the only one present for someone who wants to get an idea about whether he or she should take a look at the film, the following is what I would say. I think it is a good film, and worth the while of fans of westerns to take a look at it for two reasons. For starters, fans of filmed westerns should take a look at it to get a flavor of Zane Grey's work, for he is the father of the old West as portrayed in literature and the media. The detail that is portrayed in this movie of western life in the buffalo days is more detailed than one will see in 99% of B-Westerns, and that is because the story originates with Zane Grey. Rarely do you see wagon trains' and buffalo hunting parties' procedures and equipment portrayed with such care as in this movie. Zane Grey's western books are very detailed and exciting, and fans of westerns should certainly read at least one of them, if not more. Second, fans of westerns can use "The Thundering Herd" to begin to make comparisons of how simple B-Westerns of the early and mid- 1930's stack up to higher-end westerns from the larger studios during the same era. This is not an A-level Western, but it is a cut above the typical "B" and does draw together a more substantial and authoritative cast than the typical "B" and it also tries to present a story with greater breadth and import than the B's. Some of the action even takes place in the snow, which is a rarity in filmed westerns of the 1930's. But because it isn't an A-level film the producers also tried to cut corners and inserted a lot of stock footage, especially of buffalo and Indians, from earlier films. This is a dramatic film, and some of the moments in the culminating scene, and elsewhere in the film, too, are surprisingly brutal. If this film had been attempted a few years later, it probably would have been less grim and the various relationships within it a little more fully explored. Randolph Scott was a young chap, just coming along in the business, but this is not a Randolph Scott "hero" film like studios produced with the likes of Bob Steele or Buck Jones during the same era. Scott in this film is integral to the movie, and is the star, yes, but other people are doing and contributing important things in this film, too. I really enjoyed the opening scene, which in setting the stage seems to be chillingly realistic, with an overview of some ramshackle buildings nestled in a smoky glen all a-bustle with wagons and horses getting outfitted for the start of the hunting trips, with trading post owner Sprague (Harry Carey) making his way among and talking with the busy folks down there. Then the scene quickly changes to one of the most exciting "you-are-there" kind of stagecoach rides one will ever see! Thank you director Henry Hathaway for getting us underway. You will also see Noah Beery in one of his most vile and disturbing roles. So go ahead and watch the film, and see if you think the middle and ending of the film keep apace with the beginning! Maybe you will, maybe you won't, but I do indeed think it is a worthwhile western to see.