mark.waltz OK, the Durango kid might hold up wagon trains, but that's just his occupation. Off duty, he's a likable, fun loving guy, and a cool dude to hang out with. He's so cool that the law chit chats with him like one of their own, even confiding their desire to capture the bandit, unaware that they have him right under his nose. This is the very first all talking movie, released early in 1929, so it's obvious as to why it was a huge success, winning its leading actor Warner Baxter the second Oscar for Best Actor. But how does an obvious creaky film hold up today, 89 years later?First of all, the sound is tinny, the camera work stagnant, and the editing slow. In spite of all that, it's quite watchable, containing action, romance, comedy and a few songs. Edmund Lowe, another big star of the time, is the Army officer desperate to stop him, yet friendly with him since he has no idea of what he looks like. Dorothy Burgess is the lovely hot tempered senorita who has Baxter's love, also flirting with Lowe in spite of her spitfire demeanor. So Hollywood cast obvious non Mexicans in these roles, so what. They do their best to create flesh and blood characters, written stereotypically but adding on subtle nuances that prevents them from turning into Speedy Gonzales like cartoon characters. It is directed with flourish by Raoul Walsh and Irving Cummings, making me curious why it required two men behind the camera to have a consistent flow. For its age, it shows itself to be less than a creaky antique, something worth seeing for more than just its historical value.

mukava991 As an artifact of cinema history that came along at a point of volatility in the industry, this creaker is worth a look. It was filmed in 1928 - Hollywood's main year of transition to talkies. Considering the time when it was made, it's extraordinary that it was actually shot outdoors in what looks like Arizona. It carefully recreates the look and feel of the late 1890's with authentic looking interiors (chiefly a ranch house and a sleazy saloon populated by grizzled cowhands and fallen women) and props, which include a cylinder phonograph player. Spanish is spoken liberally by the Mexican characters, adding to the realism. The acting is uneven. Warner Baxter's Mexican accent is not believable by contemporary standards, but at least his performance as the swaggering and good natured Cisco Kid is emotionally solid. Dorothy Burgess as the femme fatale overacts and mugs to distraction. Edmund Lowe as the soldier pursuing the Kid is obnoxiously self-confident but provides a refreshing counterpoint with his East Coast accent and slangy vocabulary. The dialogue, especially Lowe's and Burgess's, is delivered broadly and slowly and accompanied by facial expressions that linger long beyond necessity lest the audience miss the point; it also abounds with sexual double meanings. The ending is suspenseful and exciting. A pop song, "Tonia Maria," by DeSylva Brown and Henderson, who were under contract at Fox during the making of this film, plays on the soundtrack both as an overture and as exit music at the end. It doesn't sound right as accompaniment to an 1890's scenario. All in all, a very mixed bag, but reflecting a fleeting time of upheaval in movie history.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) First time I got to know about this film was when I saw "O'Henry's Full House" in 1953. They showed a scene of this film and as I always liked westerns I was impressed by it being written by O'Henry and having as the main character "The Cisco Kid", which was present in so many B westerns from then on. Seeing the film recently I realized it is not really a western, because it lacks its main element: action. But it is a wonderful film, the first that was all talked, and we can say it is all talk. With no problems it could be a theatrical play. It comes from a short story of O'Henry, and in order to make it into a movie they added characters and dialogs, and did quite a good job. Even though Warner Baxter got the Oscar as the Kid, Edmund Lowe is just as good as Mickey Dunn, and as he talks about New York we realize what a fantastic city it must have been (and still is). Dorothy Burgess still carries on the acting of the silent movies and overacts, but is sexy and charismatic. A film not to be missed by those who are interested in the story of Cinema.

MARIO GAUCI Despite the desert setting and saloons and the presence of a Mexican bandit, cavalry officers and senoritas, this is really an exotic romantic drama (based on a story by the renowned O. Henry) as opposed to a straight Western. Being an early Talkie, it's obviously creaky – with very dated acting – but retains plenty of interest for the non-casual film-buff even after all these years: for one thing, it basically served as a template for the myriad Westerns that followed involving the exploits of some famous bandit or other (beginning with King Vidor's BILLY THE KID [1930]); besides, the flirtatious character of Dorothy Burgess may well have inspired Linda Darnell's Chihuahua in John Ford's classic MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1946) nearly twenty years later! Warner Baxter was a popular star of the era who has been largely neglected over the years; his Oscar-winning performance here isn't bad, but seems hardly outstanding at this juncture – his talent is more readily evident, in fact, in such later films as 42ND STREET (1933) and John Ford's THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND (1936). The same can be said of Edmund Lowe: if he's at all remembered today, it's for his "Quirt & Flagg" series of war films with Victor McLaglen (three of them helmed by this film's original director, Raoul Walsh), the Bela Lugosi vehicle CHANDU THE MAGICIAN (1932; in the title role), and the noir-ish gangster drama DILLINGER (1945). While his character curiously speaks in modern i.e. 1920s slang, he interacts well with both Baxter and Burgess – especially effective is the scene where he comes face to face with Baxter's Cisco Kid at a barber shop and, ignorant of the latter's identity, lets him slip away.The film features a couple of songs (one of them, by the famed songwriting trio of DeSylva-Brown-Henderson, is heard several times throughout and even serves as an Overture to the feature proper) and archaic comedy relief by a number of minor characters – notably Burgess' long-suffering elderly maid. There's far more talk than action here, but the twist ending (subsequently much copied) is remarkable – if anything, because it's unexpectedly pitiless for a film of its era! Incidentally, the lead role was to have been played by Raoul Walsh himself but he was injured (eventually losing an eye) in a driving accident; Irving Cummings replaced him behind the cameras (and, oddly enough, alone received the Best Director nomination, despite Walsh's name still appearing in the credits)! P.S. Baxter, Lowe and director Cummings were re-united shortly after for a sequel – THE CISCO KID (1930); one wonders whether copies of the film still exist as, ideally, it should have been paired with the original on the bare-bones Fox DVD...