The Last Straw

Buck Jones played a cowboy helping a pretty ranch owner getting rid of both cattle rustlers and an unwanted suitor in this average silent oater. Under contract to William Fox, Jones had earlier appeared on stage along with diminutive comedian Gilbert “Pee Wee” Holmes, Carl “Taterbug” Simpson, and Riley “Banty” Caldwell. The four constituted a singing group, “The Tom Mix Quartet,” and accompanied screenings of Fox westerns starring Tom Mix, the studio’s prime asset. Happily, Jones didn’t remain a singer for long but was elevated to western stardom with this film as his first vehicle. In the beginning seen mainly as a substitute if Mix should suddenly quit, Jones was quite a fine actor in his own right, and his films quickly gained a substantive following. In the 1920s, however, he always toiled in the shadow of the great Mix., A cowboy helps a ranch owner get rid of cattle rustlers and an unwanted suitor.