In Old Arizona (1928)

Director: Irving Cummings

Starring: Warner Baxter, Edmund Lowe, Dorothy Burgess, Henry Armetta, James Bradbury Jr., Joe Brown, Frank Campeau, John Webb Dillon, Alphonse Ethier, Jim Farley

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Two Men and a Senorita in a Rodeo of Love

Plot: A charming, happy-go-lucky bandit in old Arizona plays cat-and-mouse with the sheriff trying to catch him while he romances a local beauty.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? No.

First off, this is a landmark film in that it is the first start-to-finish, all-the-way-through talking picture.  It's also the first talking picture to be filmed and recorded outdoors.  For that alone it gets my respect.  Now, to the movie itself.  I can forgive the larger than life acting style.  After all, these talkies were a new thing and they're getting used to it, still acting the old way.  But what killed me is the accents of the Army guys led by Sergeant Mickey Dunn (Lowe).  They sound like they're all from Brooklyn.  Lowe actually pronounces the word, 'girl', as 'goyle'.  I'm not sure how I feel about Baxter (as The Cisco Kid) winning the Best Actor award at the Oscars since I haven't seen the other pictures he was up against but he is the best actor of the bunch in this flick.  What really took me by surprise is the ending.  No spoilers here but it's fucking bleak.  I LOVED it.  A few more years after this picture and it would seem like Hollywood passed a law that all movies had to end happily.  Not this picture, though.  Uh-uhh.  Revenge is friggin' sweet.