Roaring Six Guns (1937) User Reviews

Kermit Maynard at his best!

[stevehaynie · 7/10 · 26 November 2005]

Roaring Six Guns is an absolutely wonderful example of what a B western should be, even with its typical plot. A greedy cattle rancher, George Ringold (Sam Flint), seeks to take the land from all the other ranchers. The hero, Buck Sinclair (Kermit Maynard), refuses to give up his land. To top it off, Buck wants to marry Ringold's niece, Beth (Mary Hayes).

Something that stood out was the way that Mary Hayes delivered her lines in her first scene in the movie. Her acting had a more modern day feel, very natural, as if she were not playing a part. In fact, everyone looks good in this movie. John Merton played the heavy, "Mileaway" Roberts, perfectly. He is called "Mileaway" because he is always a "mile away" when there is trouble, meaning that he always has an alibi for the dirty deeds he commits. In general, any movie with Earle Hodgins is good. In this movie he played the fair-minded hired gunslinger, Sundown.

Seeing Kermit Maynard as a leading man is always good. I find it sad that he ended up playing smaller and smaller parts. His horseman skills are well displayed in Roaring Six Guns with at least two fancy mounts and some good riding scenes. He had all the on screen charm of his brother, Ken Maynard, but perhaps not the striking appearance.

What I like about Roaring Six Guns is that it never gets slow or bogged down. There are no glitches in continuity, and no mysterious appearances or disappearances of characters. Sometimes the old B westerns were choppy, but not this film. Everything runs smoothly. For that I would use this movie to introduce someone to the magic of B westerns.

"A wink is better than a nod to a blind horse".

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 23 April 2011]

Does anybody know what that means? The line was used by banker Jake Harmon (Robert Fiske) when he told Buck Sinclair (Kermit Maynard) that he wouldn't renew his lease on the Deep Grass Indian Lands. Buck's partner Wildcat (Budd Buster) followed up by repeating the line, but it doesn't seem to make sense. I'm sure it has something to do about taking a hint when it's offered, but it just doesn't sound quite right.

Anyway, you've got a standard B Western plot line going here, with crooked ranchers George Ringold (Sam Flint) and Mileaway Roberts (John Merton) plotting to secure favored grass land to fatten their herds and elbow competing ranchers out of business. I had to shake my head over the auction bidding on the grasslands, starting at twenty cents an acre and finishing at the 'unreasonable' price of sixty five cents per acre. Somehow it's hard to relate to that when gasoline is hitting four dollars a gallon as I write this.

I always like seeing Earle Hodgins show up in a picture, but his presence in this one seemed to be miscast. Usually he's around as a comic relief character of sorts, but this time he's a hired gun named Sundown, brought in to stop Sinclair. When their eventual showdown occurs, Buck wings Sundown, apparently knocking some sense into him as well. In the picture's finale, Sundown makes the save as Mileaway has a dead bead on Buck, having figured that Buck did an honorable thing by not killing him when he had the chance.

I've seen Kermit Maynard in a few Westerns, and unlike the other poster for this film, I'm not getting any sense of charisma or personality from his screen persona. He's actually quite bland overall, even in heated confrontations when you think he would work up some emotion. His romance with Ringold's niece Beth (Mary Hayes) didn't have much spark, and they didn't even share a kiss throughout the picture.

I'll say this though about Maynard, he did perform the coolest mount I've ever seen, having now gone beyond four hundred Western film reviews. For lack of a better term, I'll call it a cartwheel mount, where he makes his running approach from behind his horse, leaps to a handstand on the horse's back, reverses in mid-air to land straight in the saddle. I had to rewind that a couple of times to admire the precision of the move, it was great. Later on in the story, Kermit makes another cool mount, but not nearly as exciting. I'm not sure how much credit should go to Maynard's horse Rocky. He was listed in the opening credits but never mentioned by name in the movie, which is a shame, because he might have been better remembered today if he had an agent like Trigger.

Interesting characterizations are the highlight of a familiar B Western story.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 30 January 2023]

There's more development for supporting characters Sam Flint and Mary Hayes then the usual types in this Ken Maynard B Western that has villainous Flint out to grab the land previously leased by Maynard and using any crooked method, including murder, that he can use to fulfill his goal. Hayes is Flint's niece, shocked by what Maynard claims that her uncle has done. There are scenes when Flint speaks from the heart, and his rationality, while completely off base, adds a dimension to his character that while not white washing him does succeed in making him a bit more realistic and less cliched and dark. Certainly, the audience can't wait for him to get what's coming to him along with his followers, but it's a lot more interesting because of the shading rather than just good versus evil. Hayes is also very good, expressing dismay when she realizes the truth, but definitely torn over what should be done. There's some unnecessary comical nonsense that distracts, but overall, I found this much more interesting than the many other westerns with low budgets that had like plots. Definitely one of the more interesting twists, and a better screenplay than average helps, even if it is just another poverty row cheapie rushed out.

Hired Killers

[StrictlyConfidential · 6/10 · 29 September 2021]

"Roaring Six Guns" was originally released back in 1937.

Anyway - As the story goes - With the lease on some government land about to expire, two men covet the valuable property for their own. The one man is in love with the other man's daughter but the father doesn't approve of the man courting her.

Six Guns Blasting The Whole Time

[frank4122 · 10/10 · 15 April 2019]

Great action in this 30's western fare. With names like Mile-a-way Roberts and Wildcat Roper, Six Guns had the flavor of a great early western. I wish Kermit Maynard would've had more leading roles as he delivered nicely in this one. The same holds true for Mary Hayes who had a more limited role but showed she had star power. Of course Earle Hodgins, Sam Flint, and John Merton gave the usual great performances. But I thought the Wildcat Roper part played by Bud Buster stole the show with his wit and high energy performance. Roaring Six Guns is a roaring high energy film worth seeing.