Law of the West (1932) User Reviews

Standard Bob Steele Quality

[stevehaynie · 7/10 · 19 July 2006]

In the context of early 30's Bob Steele movies Law of the West is neither Steele's best nor worst. Capable as an actor and excellent as an action hero, Bob Steele was able to give a solid performance in any role he was given.

In Law of the West Steele portrays a young man who believes he is the son of a cattle rustler named Morgan. In retaliation for being caught rustling by Dan Carruthers, Lee Morgan had kidnapped Carruthers' son, Bob, and raised Bob to believe he was his own son. Believing this, young Bob never hit his father out of respect despite the beatings he received. Bob's real father, Dan Carruthers, became a marshal with the intention of one day finding his son and the man who kidnapped him. Both Carruthers and Bob are known for being fast with a gun, and Morgan's plan is to make Bob kill Carruthers as an evil, ironic method of revenge.

This movie is more story driven than a gratuitous showcase of chase scenes and gunfights. While it may have many common elements of B westerns, Law of the West is able to stand up on its own. Even if this were not a western, the plot would work in other contexts.

Could Have Been A Classic

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 24 June 2010]

No doubt in my mind that Law Of The West was rushed quickly into production to take advantage of the notoriety regarding the coverage of the Lindbergh Kidnapping. Throughout the Thirties kidnapping stories used as plot themes because of that tragedy.

Bob Steele was 25 when he made Law Of The West in which he plays a young outlaw with a past. When he was just a toddler outlaw Ed Brady snatched him in retaliation for Steele's real father Hank Bell killing his son during a shootout with the gang. Brady raises the kid who grows up to be Steele with a real hatred because he plans that eventually he plans what he considers a just revenge.

This was an interesting theme for a B western, a revenge tale worthy of Shylock, Richard III, or Iago. Probably had this gotten an A picture treatment this could have been a classic.

As it is it's just one of hundreds of films that exploited the Lindbergh kidnapping.

Robert Bradbury Directs His Son in a Movie About Bad Father-Son Relationships

[boblipton · 5/10 · 29 June 2018]

Ed Brady is a cattle rustler whose son opened fire and was gunned down by Hank Bell's men. To gain his vengeance, Brady kidnaps Bell's son, so he can beat him every day, grow up into Bob Steele and be shot down by his own father as part of his gang; Bell is now a lawman, and will stay one until he catches up with Brady.

It's what we call a refrigerator movie in my family, the sort of film that draws you in while you're in the theater, having a fine time. Then you go home, open the refrigerator to get a drink of ice water. You pause and say "Isn't that vengeance a little slow? Would he have the patience to wait all that time? Nah!"

However, while I was watching it, I was having a fine time, and that's good enough for me. I did wonder why, when Brady had Steele stripped to the waist so he could be tied to the tree for a whipping, he didn't go through with it. This was a pre-code movie, and even under the Production Code, there were some major examples of that sadistic homo-erotic trope; it would be a favorite plot point in Alan Ladd movies. They probably considered it, but since this was going to be a children's matinee movie and writer-director Robert Bradbury was Bob Steele's father, they probably laughed uneasily about father-son relationships and dropped the idea.

Average Bob Steele Fare

[alan-pratt · 5/10 · 1 June 2009]

Written and directed by the reliable Robert N. Bradbury and starring his son, the prolific and likable Bob Steele, Law of the West has a more complex storyline than many other B-westerns of the period.

Bob Carruthers (Steele) is kidnapped as a small boy by villainous Lee Morgan (Ed Brady) and his half-hearted accomplice Tracy (Charles West). Bob grows up believing he is Morgan's son,becomes a crack shot, falls in love with Tracy's daughter, Sally (Nancy Drexel) and is forced to confront his real father, Marshal Dan Carruthers - allegedly the fastest gun around - in a shootout staged by Morgan. So plenty of plot if not too much action.

I tend to agree with a fellow reviewer that this would have worked just as well in non-western format. As an episode of Eastenders maybe??

Strange and not particularly believable.

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 13 July 2015]

A baddie named Morgan hates Carruthers so he kidnaps his son. Years pass and now the boy (Bob Steele) thinks that Morgan is his real father--and this 'dad' spent years beating the snot out of him. In the interim, Morgan and his gang have been breaking all sorts of laws...yet, inexplicably, Bob is still innocent and decent. Bob wants to escape with his girl--and his girl's father tells Bob he must tell him an important secret--that Morgan is NOT his dad. But naturally, being a bad b-western, the guy gets shot by Morgan before he can tell Bob! Soon Morgan convinces Bob that Carruthers shot his girlfriend's dad--and Bob vows to kill the guy who is actually his own father! Sounds weird and confusing? Well, it truly is. Additionally, folks who seem to die in this film miraculously come back to life and when they've finally captured Morgan, they just let him slip away--like they knew that they had to pad the film a bit more to get it to be long enough! An odd, dull and nonsensical sort of film--and among Steele's poorer efforts.