Hawaiian Buckaroo
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Ray Taylor
Smith Ballew
Evalyn Knapp
Harry Woods
Pat [j.] O'brien
George Regas
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After driving his cattle through a tremendous dust storm, rancher Brady announces that he is bankrupt and must close down his ranch. Then cowboy Jeff Howard is approached by the cook, Mike, to pool their savings and buy a pineapple ranch in Hawaii. After some coaxing, Jeff agrees and the two men sail for the islands. Aboard the ship, they meet cattle heiress Paula Harrington, who takes an immediate disliking to Jeff. As they arrive in Hawaii, Jeff and Mike are taken by land baron J. P. M'Tigue to their one hundred acre ranch, which is nothing more than a large patch of volcanic ash. Cheated out of all their money, the two are forced to go to Paula's ranch, looking for work. Paula hires Mike as a cook, but makes Jeff her personal servant, and has him polish her riding boots, then sing at dinner. Paula's ranch is in great disarray, as her foreman and suitor, Steven Wainwright, is nothing but a "gentleman rancher" and his right-hand man, Riga, is actually working for M'Tigue, helping to sabotage the ranch's beef contract which M'Tigue covets. Once Jeff begins working her cattle, however, Paula begins to see the cowboy differently, much to Steven's chagrin. In cahoots with M'Tigue and Steven, Riga takes Jeff and Mike to a nightclub, where the two are almost killed in a bar fight. Jeff angrily quits the ranch the next day after he and Paula fight over his involvement in the bar brawl, and Steven gives him his severance pay, even though Paula wants to re-hire him. Meanwhile, M'Tigue receives a letter offering him $10,000 for Jeff and Mike's land, so he buys the land back from Mike for $5,000. Then, just as the Harrington cattle is about to be shipped, M'Tigue and his men arrive, claiming that some of the cattle have been rustled and insisting that the shipment be held until the cattle commissioner can settle the matter. Paula, knowing that she will lose her beef contract unless the cattle is shipped that day, fires Riga when he refuses to move the cattle. After Riga's men join forces with M'Tigue and the others, Paula sends Steven back to the ranch for help. Steven is shot and wounded by Riga along the way, but arrives at the ranch just as Jeff is leaving. Jeff and the house boys help Paula stampede the cattle past M'Tigue and his men, and Riga is killed as he tries to shoot Paula. M'Tigue is captured, only to learn that there was no $10,000 offer for the barren land, as Jeff wrote the letter himself. Back at the Harrington ranch, Paula offers Jeff the job as her foreman, though he wonders if she still has a position open for "a singing boot-black."
Director
Ray Taylor
Cast
Smith Ballew
Evalyn Knapp
Harry Woods
Pat [j.] O'brien
George Regas
Benny Burt
Laura Treadwell
Carl Stockdale
Snowflake
Crew
Ralph Berger
Barney Briskin
Eddie Grant
Bert Jordan
Sol Lesser
Harry Macpherson
William Mccrary
Abe Meyer
L. John Myers
V. O. Smith
Allen Q. Thompson
Albert Von Tilzer
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title for this film was Cowboy in Hawaii. Some sources mistakenly state that the film was based on the novel Exit by Harold Bell Wright. As Variety points out, the actor Pat O'Brien in this film was not the more famous Warner Bros. star of the same name.
