STRAIGHT SHOOTING
starring Harry Carey
MOTION PICTURE NEWS
September 8, 1917
As the title very truthfully implies, this picture is a western melodrama. Further than that, it is filled with fine, effective western action, containing thrilling climaxes that never allow the interest to falter. Superior locations were selected for its enactment. The long shots of the cattle herds and the numerous bands of horsemen were picked with an eye to their appropriateness and in addition have been superbly photographed. The horsemen, incidentally, perform with an unusual disregard for the respective lives. In fact, the stunt stuff in the last fight between the cattlemen and the bandits is loaded with sensational feats of daring that even go as far as to surpass most of the kindred action we have seen before.
George Hively, the author, has drawn upon reliably familiar situations for his story, yet the new setting he has laid them in sheds something of a new light over the whole. The reform of the bad man by the yearning look in the heroine's eyes paves the way for the final rout of the villainous cattlemen who would drive the settlers out of cabin and home. The ride taken by Joan to warn the settlers of the uprising of the cattlemen has all the thrill of Paul Revere's famous gallop, while the succeeding fight in which the marauders ride round and round the line cabin, until the kind-hearted highwaymen arrive and save the day, is engineered on the style of the Indian attack in the comparatively ancient pictures.
Harry Carey, with his very own mannerisms, makes a likable figure of "Cheyenne" Harry, and Molly Malone is the typically sweet heroine. Jack Ford produced and has laid great stress on terrifically fast action, particularly when he is dealing with horses and riders. If he had left out a few of these riding scenes, more connected results would have been attained, but, on the whole, "Straight Shooting" leaves little to be desired form the viewpoint of the fan who devours the Westerns.