Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

lchadbou-326-26592 The name Big Stakes comes from a gamble the Southwest cowboy hero (J.B.Warner) proposes when he is captured by Mexicans from across the border: that they settle the issue with "brincadores" (jumping beans.)The story has a contemporary setting and is somewhat unusual in allowing a romance between this white Westerner and a Hispanic lady (Elinor Fair) though the man eventually lands up pairing with a white woman. There is also a critique of the recently reinvigorated Ku Klux Klan, referred to here as the Night Riders: unlike in Griffith's The Birth Of A Nation where the KKK rides to the rescue, here they are shown attacking a town, and it is non-white (Mexican) forces who help the hero rescue the white woman from their clutches. The intertitles are somewhat cutesy, however, and contain the (hopefully) now obsolete term "spiggoty", a word going back as far as Jack London, to refer to Hispanics. The film also benefits from the performance of the heavy set H.S. Karr as Skinny, the skeptical sidekick, and from nice pictorial touches by award winning cinematographer Clyde De Vinna (White Shadows In The South Seas.) The tinted print shown on Turner Classic Movies has beautiful yellow and green effects, on top of blue tinting, in the scene of the street on fire. For fans of sinister animals, a caged gila monster is used in one sequence to threaten the American and his Latina lover.

MartinHafer A cowboy hero has some run-ins with a local bully. The bully always gets the worst of it, but the bully vows to eventually get revenge. At the same time, the hero manages to meet a pretty señorita and they begin making eyes at each other. The problem is, she already has a boyfriend and he AND the bully both look like they will eventually kill the handsome hero.While some of the story elements of this film are a bit odd, the overall style of the film is pretty much the typical B-Western that Hollywood made so often from the 1920s-1950s. Instead of W.B. Warner, this film could have just as likely had Gene Autry, Ken Maynard or Hopalong Cassidy in the lead--the format is that familiar. In other words, you have the noble and handsome cowboy in the lead, a silly sidekick who is rarely there for anything other than comic relief and it's all wrapped up in only about one hour.What makes this a bit different is that in addition to the lovely local girl, there is a Hispanic girl love interest as well--something Hollywood would not that often until the 1940s and 50s due to prejudices in much of the US about miscegenation--intimate relations between Whites and anyone else (though many Hispanics are just as pale and pasty-skinned as anyone else). In fact, to make such a pairing more tolerable to idiots out there worried about this pairing, the girl was from "100% Castillian blood" and was played by a very American-looking actress (Elinor Fair). And, oddly, the bad guy used the local version of the KKK to help him in his evil deeds. Because of it's anti-Klan, entreaty for close relations between Americans and Mexicans and pro-dating Mexicans, the film did try to be a bit deeper than the usual film in the genre--but it also pulled its punches, so to speak, because at the time, movie makers could only push so far. Nowadays, such a pairing wouldn't even be noticed--except by total morons (and, fortunately, they are becoming less and less as time goes by).As far as the rest of the film goes, there are only a few surprises. One is the part where you get to see the fat sidekick actually gets to beat up the bad guy--a rarity in these films. Another is that the Mexican boyfriend and the hero decide who gets the girl by betting on, of all things, jumping beans!! Pretty weird stuff, huh?! But overall, it's a pretty run-of-the-mill film except for its progressive stance towards Mexicans.

Richard Green This excellent silent western was aired on Turner Classic Movies on the important Mexican holiday of "Cinco de Mayo," or May 5th.The copy of this film was in very good condition, and the dialogue panels were clear and readable ( mostly ). It was an exciting romp.Most interesting to see was the interaction between the hero and his lovable sidekick, which has to be an early edition of a theme that so many hundreds of mainstream western tales used in subsequent years.In some ways the romance elements were subordinate to the villainous threats posed by the local Ku Klux Klan leader, and his Klavern.All these decades later, most folks know almost nothing about the surge in membership in, and activities of, the K.K.K. in the 1920s. The Klan was re-founded in or about 1915 and by the '20s had surfaced as a most potent and important social and political factor in many parts of the United States. However, it is not clear from the known history of the Klan that their movement had so much presence on the border.Given the times, this portrayal of Klansmen as being fundamentally evil and hostile was a daring bit of story-telling for the film's authors.All in all, this was a great window, a 'moving picture window,' on our western heritage with good performances by every member of the cast.

wes-connors Devil-may-care buckaroo J.B. Warner (as Jim Gregory) is torn between two pretty women: south-of-the-border Senorita Elinor Fair (as Mercedes Aloyez) catches his romantic eye - but, beautiful Caucasian waitress-in-distress Wilamae Carson (as Mary Moore) also captures his attention. Probably, the weakest part of the story involves how the women become a dilemma for Mr. Warner, because he is scripted to favor Ms. Fair almost exclusively; Ms. Moore unexpectedly attains an equal romantic status, later in the running. And, Warner's selection seems strangely xenophobic.Despite its shortcomings, "Big Stakes" is an enjoyable, well-paced silent western. The handcuffed "big stake" opening leads a to few clever bits, and the cast performs them very well. The climax provides some old-fashioned D.W. Griffith-styled excitement. Tall-in-the-saddle Warner is comically supported by rotund ton-of-fun Hilliard Karr (as "Skinny" Fargo). This film provides a rare look at Warner, a western star who died unexpectedly. Les Bates and Robert Grey, the actors playing the two main villains, also died too soon.****** Big Stakes (8/15/22) Clifford S. Elfelt ~ J.B. Warner, Elinor Fair, Hilliard Karr