Ridgeway of Montana

• 1924

• Watchlist

This fine silent western was, like so many others in the 1920s, based on a novel by William McLeod Raine, in this case A Sacrifice to Mammon. Rancher Buck Ridgeway (Jack Hoxie) is having trouble with a gang of rustlers. Capturing the gang, Ridgeway's attempt to rope the leader, Steve Pelton (Lew Meehan), fails and the villain manages to escape. Lovely neighbor rancher Aline Hanley (Olive Hasbrouck) convinces Ridgeway to bring her along on a cattle drive. The two get to know each other better while trapped overnight in a blizzard, and Buck falls in love. Pelton, meanwhile, reappears, this time with lust as the motivator, and he kidnaps the girl. Ridgeway proves his worth once and for all by capturing the villain before Aline suffers the proverbial "fate worse than death." All three stars, Hoxie, Hasbrouck and Meehan, gave spirited performances in this above-average Hoxie western, especially Meehan, whose florid acting style never fails to amuse a modern audience.