Ride 'Em Cowboy

Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Dick Foran, Anne Gwynne, Johnny Mack Brown, Ella Fitzgerald
Directed by: Arthur Lubin
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Comedy, Western, Musical
1942

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Two friends (Bud Abbott, Lou Costello) join a famous singer (Dick Foran) at a working dude ranch, where they are exposed to the life of a cowboy.

Review:

Tim: The sixth Abbott & Costello movie (fifth starring them), Ride 'Em Cowboy changes up the pace by making the story a Western, but unfortunately, it takes a step back in several other areas. The comedy duo still hasn't made a truly bad movie, but this film isn't as strong as the last three movies they did. While it still has some humorous moments, it's hard to think about this as anything other than a disappointment.

One of my most consistent complaints is that Abbott & Costello seem like supporting players in their own movies. They fixed that in Hold That Ghost, which is probably my favorite A&C movie. Sadly, this movie reverts to giving this famous starring duo scaled back roles. The main story involves Dick Foran (who I've grown to like in these movies) and his love interest. The issue is that their storyline has been done numerous times in A&C movies already, and it's significantly less memorable and interesting than our comedy stars. And yet, the supporting players are responsible for moving the story forward and the film's stars provide the comedy relief. Maybe you'd consider this an innovative approach, but I truly believe A&C will never make a truly great movie following this formula. Their chemistry is incredible, so it's frustrating to see them in these smaller roles. They need more screen time and they need to be responsible for moving the story forward.

I really did appreciate the change of genre here. After three service comedies and a horror comedy, it was fun to see Abbott & Costello in a Western. Their brand of comedy can be applied to literally any kind of movie genre, so I hope they continue exploring new settings for future films. This is necessary, because the routine has gotten a little stale. Yes, Abbott & Costello have their little trademarks at this point, but most of the routines and gags here felt recycled from previous films. There were a few truly funny, laugh-out-loud moments, but for the most part, it just felt like slight variations on things we've seen before (and sometimes numerous times). The highlight of the film might be the zany car/horse chase. That was something to behold. The rest of the film offers a hodgepodge of other scenes that felt adapted from previous A&C movies. For example, the poker scene was a variation on the dice scene. The bull-riding scene was a variation on the torpedo-riding scene and a few sequences from Keep 'Em Flying. The Indian dummy scene was similar to the changing rooms scene in Hold That Ghost. Maybe I'm being overly critical because there's only so many ways to deliver an A&C comedy scene, but man, I was itching for some more originality here.

I will say that I still had some fun watching Ride 'Em Cowboy, although I would easily consider this one of the weaker Abbott & Costello films. I very much did appreciate the change of setting and genre, but too much of the film felt recycled. I have no idea what future A&C films have in store for us, but I really hope this film was a speed bump and a blip- not a new trend.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: In the Navy, Keep 'Em Flying, Hold That Ghost