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Mustang! (1959) Online

Mustang! (1959) Online
Original Title :
Mustang!
Genre :
Movie / Romance / Western
Year :
1959
Directror :
Tom Gries
Cast :
Jack Buetel,Madalyn Trahey,Stephen Keyes
Writer :
Rutherford Montgomery,Tom Gries
Type :
Movie
Time :
1h 13min
Rating :
3.7/10
Mustang! (1959) Online

In the hills and forest surrounding a horse-breeding ranch an unbroken wild mustang (played by a male horse named Autumn Moon, who is not a human actress) who has been a constant challenge to the ranch owner (Milt Swift) and his hired hand Lou (Steve Keyes) who have attempted, and failed, to kill the horse several times as a bad influence on the tame horses of the ranch. One of the cowhands, Gabe (Jack Beutel)and the owner's sister, Nancy (Madalyn Trahey), believe that the mustang can be captured and tamed and be made a valuable asset to the ranch. Despite opposition by Lou, they set out to do so.
Cast overview:
Jack Buetel Jack Buetel - Gabe (as Jack Beutel)
Madalyn Trahey Madalyn Trahey - Nancy
Stephen Keyes Stephen Keyes - Lou, Ranch Hand (as Steve Keyes)
Milt Swift Milt Swift - Ranch Owner
Bob Gilbert Bob Gilbert - Cowhand (as Robert Gilbert)
Paul Spahn Paul Spahn - Cowhand
Max M. Gilford Max M. Gilford - Ranch Hand
Autumn Moon Autumn Moon - The Wild Mustang

Completed in 1955, the film bears a 1955 copyright statement, although it was not actually copyrighted until 1959, at which time it was eventually released.


User reviews

Swift Summer

Swift Summer

Weird how things like this got made back then. Truly amateurish in all ways, but created out of a real love for the west, horses and ranch life. I get a kick of films like this, ones that try to be semi-documentary in content as they deliver a thin story. We are shown clips of salmon spawning, wild horses running, old fashion lo-glitz rodeo, Indians doing a tribal dance for show. In-between, there are men punching, flying, riding and shooting, and a really lame love story. Take it for what it's worth, I enjoyed it as a pre-dawn distraction from insomnia. I liked all the western plaid coats and handsome hair, but would've liked more pickup trucks.
Phobism

Phobism

Hard to rate this film as it's horrible, in a good way. If you're in to z-grade films that are good for laughs, this should work for you. If you're wanting to watch a vintage western in the traditional sense, stay away.

Namely: *None of the characters are remotely likable. *The acting is atrocious and completely wooden. *The script/storyline is juvenile and contains many "WTF?" moments. *The dialogue is completely laughable. *The editing seems to have been done by a drunken chimp. *The film stock looks like someone's old home movies.

First of all, the lead character is anti-charismatic, and is basically a psychopath. He horns his way in to the lives of some equally unlikable ranchfolk and mayhem and hilarity ensue. (You may recognize the "hero", Jack Beutel, from the almost as miserable "The Outlaw").

There are many laugh out loud moments: one in which the lead, Gabe Lee, observes a moose and states "that moose reminded me of my boyhood days in Oklahoma"!!! Wow! In another scene he remarks: "an old raccoon wanted no part of it"... in reference to a possum!!

There are many reused loops of scenes of horses running, scenery and one particularly funny one in which the heroine rides too close to a cedar tree and a limb nearly knocks her off of her horse. Another great clip shows the hero roping the wild mustang, while closeups show the horse magically wearing a rope halter.

There are many edits featuring scenes from other locations, backgrounds and film stock pasted in. There are a couple of great ones in which an obvious stuntMAN stands in for the female lead (although she is very mannish in her own right). And, vocal overdubbing seems to have been done by other actors at times.

It's hard to believe that writer director, Tom Gries, went on to actually make some good films (particularly Will Penny, which features his son Jon "Uncle Rico" from Napoleon Dynamite in his first role).

I'm a big fan of bad movies. I own every episode of MST3K and have an extensive collection of 50s and 60s sci-fi schlock. This movie rates right up with Plan 9 from Outer Space for it's sheer earnest ineptness and unintentional comic value.

I give it a "3" for it's original intention. However, it rates a solid "9" for it's enjoyability as a laugh-out-loud turkey.
Doriel

Doriel

Who ever hired these actors must have paid them not to smile. Having a somber expression is paramount in this modern western while the story line has been intertwined with the wildlife scenes and if this movie was filmed in HD it might have saved it but unfortunately they didn't it back then. They had to use locals as the acting was amateurish even though the storyline is compelling. The actors don't show much enjoyment during the love scenes as it could be they hate each other. The color looked as if it was made using an eight millimeter camera. The sound effects were very professional. I have never seen any of the actors before so I can't say it could have been a launching pad for any of them toward bigger and better roles.
Hunaya

Hunaya

Mustang is an unusual western romance movie.While it is not in the league of a Joel McCrea or a John Wayne western,I liked the movie.First off I kept thinking about the color 1950s home movies that I have seen over the years from our family's home movie library.Mustang had that look about it from the color and the way the movie was filmed.I really like the fact that I had never seen any of the actors before in any other motion picture.That was refreshing.That is why I like Canadian movies.I get tired of the mainstream actors of today getting in the way of the story because they are showing off or they are lousy actors.You won't see an overrated George Clooney in this film.Mustang had some breathtaking scenery and the horses were beautiful.If you want to see a pleasant corny western with a little old fashioned romance sprinkled in then check this one out.I have this movie.
Lanionge

Lanionge

About equal parts movie and stock footage, "Mustang!" is probably the only movie I've seen where every character is a creep, even the hero. Would it have hurt Gabe (Jack Buetel) or Nancy (Madalyn Trahey) to crack a smile every now and then? I don't think I'm being too picky when I say that the lead character should have had at least some charisma for the part, while the romantic interest of the story could have shown a hint of charm. Maybe the idea was to convey that the real star of the picture was August Moon, introduced in the opening credits as 'The Mustang'. If I may call him August for short, I'd say he was the only character in the story that didn't have to brood through his lines to create an impression. A quite natural performance too, doing what horses do, mainly running around the countryside and hanging out with the rest of the herd. If I had to guess, he probably could also tell the difference between a raccoon and an opossum, as outdoors-man Gabe certainly couldn't.

I didn't start out trying to be so harsh on the film, but this one was just a chore to sit through. Maybe with it's current run on Encore Westerns, someone could get around to fixing up the cast credits on IMDb, as characters Sam and Shortbread were prominently mentioned, while Lou Hollis owned the ranch where the story took place; he's listed as a ranch hand. I already forgot the names of the two airplane shooter guys, but it's not that important, they were only in it for the money.

The genre description for this one is Romance/Western, but one could make a pretty good case that it's neither. Only recommended for folks like myself who get up at four in the morning with nothing else to catch on TV.