Review of West of Cimarron (1941) by Robert B — 09 Sep 2012

West of Cimarron (Lester Orlebeck, 1941).

I was all set to decalare West of Cimarron to be my favorite of the Three Mesquiteers two-reelers, a predictable-but-fun genre western with this incarnation of the trio (Bob Steele, Tom Tyler, and Rufe Davis) stuck in the middle of a post-Civil War dust-up between former Confederates (the Bushwhackers) and former Unionists (the Carpetbaggers). And then came the climactic sequence, in which, just in case you hadn't caught on to the fact that this movie was made before anyone started talking about equal rights, it decides to jam the racism in your face, using racial stereotypes (and blackface!) not just for comic relief, but as major plot points. How was this still not offensive by 1941? One way or the other, it is now, and this is one where you'll have a hard time pleading âthe culture of the timesâ?. The last ten minutes or so of this film are just plain offensive, and do a great deal to hamstring the quality of the rest of the movie. *.