Dynamite Ranch (1932) User Reviews

There's no Dynamite and the Ranch is a Hacienda

[glennstenb · 6/10 · 30 April 2023]

The story in "Dynamite Ranch" centers on a group of tenderfoots from the east who arrive at a working ranch and Hacienda in the modern old West, around which swirls concern for a couple of large sums of money that have gone missing. Ken Maynard is his usual amiable self, maybe just a tad more focused on accepting romance than usual, but the film itself is disappointing, perhaps mostly because Ken just doesn't seem that involved or engaged with us the viewers.

Much of the later action is carried out amidst a backdrop of a costume ball, which is an unusual and effectively fun touch, but one can see that this film has a lot of filler, including the music and dance during the ball, and most pointedly by the copious amount of time spent with the fistfight between two of the antagonists.

Although the dialogue is logical and sometimes curiously comical, it is sometimes too economical and delivered in a non-fluid and unrehearsed way. The sets for the two haciendas, one of which is abandoned, are imaginative and with some noir-like shadow play. And finally, the resolution scene is considerably far-fetched, albeit well filmed and very well edited, particularly for a B-product.

In sum, die-hard Maynard and Tarzan fans should give it a try but others may not feel engaged or tolerant with this one.

Framed By His Foes

[StrictlyConfidential · 5/10 · 9 September 2021]

"Dynamite Ranch" was originally released back in 1932.

Anyway - As the story goes - Blaze Howell is wrongly accused of a crime after breaking up an apparent robbery that results in a discovery of money being gone. With the possibility of a prison sentence facing him, Howell desperately tries to expose the true culprits responsible for stealing the money.

"Well, one of us is nuts!"

[classicsoncall · 4/10 · 28 December 2011]

It appears that somewhere along the line, the story writer lost his train of thought and then picked it up again after having bungled the original idea. The opening scene offers a staged train robbery for the benefit of a wealthy landowner and his guests, but after Blaze Howell (Ken Maynard) interrupts the event, it turns out that fifty thousand dollars actually WAS stolen from a safe aboard the train. So having been implicated, Howell runs off after being charmed by Howell's daughter Doris (Ruth Hall). However back at the Howell Ranch, foreman Owens (Alan Roscoe) is put on the spot for twenty grand that's supposed to be in the Howell safe, which also winds up missing! But because Howell comes calling on Miss Doris, he's once again in the wrong spot at the wrong time and it looks like he's the thief.

The picture makes an attempt at getting creative when Blaze arrives later at a masquerade party at the Howell Ranch, but wouldn't you know it, he's wearing the exact same costume as foreman Owens, and the mistaken identity gimmick is taken to the limit. Fortunately, Howell managed to trail Owens' henchman Red Saunders (Al Smith) to an abandoned hacienda where he hid the stolen money. He now only needs to wait and watch for Owens to make his move.

Given the era, you can forgive the principals involved with this production. These early Westerns were short on credibility, instead trying to capitalize on the cowboy hero's good looks and ability to deliver the action. From today's vantage point, a film like "Dynamite Ranch" is just another run of the mill B flick with not a lot to recommend it. One bright spot here was Maynard's Palomino Tarzan, who entertains with some clever dance steps before helping his owner put away the bad guys.

Probably the only B Western with a costume ball.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 18 April 2020]

This creaky, static western starts off fine with a staged train robbery that is merely a stunt to welcome visitor Ruth Hall to the wild west. Apparently, she likes that sort of thing. Cowboy Ken Maynard is instantly attracted to her, but because he was the one who staged the fake robbery, he becomes the suspect when the train is actually revealed to have been robbed. This has a modern setting so it has a 1930's look to it. Too bad the pacing is very slow and there are a lot of silent moments that makes the film slug along. At the masked ball, it's obvious who Maynard is, so it's silly that he isn't recognized by anyone other than Hall. Some of the costumes looks like they've come out of on the early 1930's musical so that's sequence is pretty interesting. But as a B Western, it drags a bit, and features stereotypical archetypes that look like they were roaming the wild West 50 years before this took place.