The Cisco Kid
Cast & Crew
Irving Cummings
Warner Baxter
Edmund Lowe
Conchita Montenegro
Nora Lane
Frederick Burt
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
During President William McKinley's administration, Sergeant Mickey Dunn, a New Yorker stationed near the Mexican border, is excited to hear that his nemesis, The Cisco Kid, for whom there is a $5,000 reward, has been seen in the vicinity. When The Kid, rustling cattle with his cohorts, Gordito and Lopez, sees Dunn and his two men, Dixon and Bouse, on his trail, he instructs Gordito to fire at him so that it will look like he is trying to steal Gordito and Lopez's cattle. The ruse works, The Kid escapes, and Dunn allows Gordito to keep the cattle. At a café in Carrizo, when Sheriff Tex Ransom sees singer Carmencito, whom the sheriff favors, eye The Kid, he shoots the heel off The Kid's boot. The Kid then shoots a glass from the sheriff's hand. After Carmencita helps The Kid escape, he tells her that he trusts no woman and will give his love to none, but nevertheless kisses her passionately. Dunn interrupts them and wounds The Kid as he rides off. The Kid is cared for by widow Sally Benton, whose ranch is in danger of being taken over by Ransom and banker Enos Hankins. Sally's two young children, Billy and Anita, grow to love the visitor. When Dunn romances Carmencita and tries to get information about The Kid's whereabouts, she gives him a false lead. The Kid recovers, after learning that Hankins plans to take Sally's ranch unless she pays $5,000, he robs Hankins' bank. When Dunn arrives, Carmencita, who earlier was pleased that The Kid risked his life to visit her, runs in front of the departing Kid and feigns being shot. She thus allows The Kid to escape as Dunn goes to comfort her. After The Kid gives Sally the $5,000 from the bank robbery, he starts to ride off as Dunn arrives. Anita, upset that The Kid did not say goodbye, closes the gate in front of his horse and falls as The Kid and his horse jump it. The Kid is captured by Dunn when he rides back to check on Anita, who is not hurt; however, when Dunn learns that The Kid robbed the bank to help Sally, he shakes The Kid's hand and lets him ride to the border.
Director
Irving Cummings
Cast
Warner Baxter
Edmund Lowe
Conchita Montenegro
Nora Lane
Frederick Burt
Willard Robertson
James Bradbury Jr.
Jack Dillon
Charles Stevens
Chris Martin
Douglas Haig
Marilyn Knowlden
Rita Flynn
Consuelo Castillo De Bonzo
Allan Garcia
Del Maggert
Crew
Warner Baxter
Lew Brown
Al Cohn
George P. Costello
William Crawford
Irving Cummings
B. G. De Sylva
Albert Dresden
Allan Garcia
William Goetz
Ray Henderson
George Lipschultz
Joe List
Del Maggert
Jack Marta
Cherié May
Barney Mcgill
Frank Mcgrath
Earl Rettig
Alex Troffey
J. P. Van Wormer
William Whitley
Charles Woolstenhulme
Joseph Wright
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The title card for this film in the opening credits reads, "O'Henry's [sic] Romantic Bad Man The Cisco Kid." Al Cohn's unpublished story was originally entitled "The Silver City." According to information in the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department at the UCLA Theater Arts Library, much of the film was shot on property on Ventura Boulevard, thirty miles west of Hollywood. The film was a sequel to the 1929 Fox film In Old Arizona, directed by Raoul Walsh, which also starred Warner Baxter and Edmund Lowe and for which Baxter won an Academy Award. The theme song "My Tonia" from the 1929 film was used again in this film. In 1930, Fox produced The Arizona Kid, also starring Warner Baxter, which used the character "The Cisco Kid" without using the name. O. Henry first created The Cisco Kid character in his short story "Caballero's Way" (Everybody's Magazine, July 1907).
After the 1930 film, a number of writers produced work for a new "Cisco Kid" film, including Harvey Fergusson, Herbert Asbury, Clarke Silvernail and Tom Barry, but it is not known if any of this material was used in the final film. Other films based on O. Henry's character include the 1914 three-reel Eclair film entitled The Caballero's Way; the 1919 two-reel Universal film entitled The Border Terror; the 1939 Twentieth Century-Fox film entitled The Return of the Cisco Kid, also starring Warner Baxter (see below); six films starring Cesar Romero, beginning with the 1939 The Cisco Kid and the Lady, made by Twentieth Century-Fox (see below).
Gilbert Roland made six films for Monogram in the mid-1940s, beginning with The Gay Cavalier in 1946, and Duncan Renaldo, made many films for the same studio, first in 1945, beginning with The Cisco Kid Returns, then additional films after Roland left the series. Renaldo also starred with Leo Carrillo in The Cisco Kid television series, produced from 1951 to 1955. A 1994 television movie entitled The Cisco Kid was broadcast on the TNT cable network. That film was directed by Luis Valdez and starred Jimmy Smits and Cheech Marin. For additional information on "The Cisco Kid," consult the Series Index.
