The Ridin' Rascal

The Ridin' Rascal
The Ridin' Rascal
Directed by	Clifford Smith
Written by	Harrison Jacobs (scenario); Isadore Bernstein (adaptation)
Based on	Mavericks; by William MacLeod Raine
Produced by	Carl Laemmle
Starring	Art Acord; Olive Hasbrouck; Buck Connors;
Cinematography	Edward Linden
Production; company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	September 19, 1926;
Running time	5 reels
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

The Ridin' Rascal is a 1926 American silent Western film directed by Clifford Smith based upon the novel Mavericks by William MacLeod Raine. The film stars Art Acord, Olive Hasbrouck, and Buck Connors.^[1]^[2]

Plot

As described in a film magazine,^[3] Larrabie Keller comes into cow country as a homesteader and is immediately attacked by the cattlemen who accuse him of being a rustler. The insults of Bill Healy cause Keller to give him a severe drubbing after Keller’s refusal to fight Phil Sanderson, whose sister Phyllis has struck his fancy. Later Phyllis finds Keller beside a branding fire which he is investigating and believes him guilty of rustling. Healy fires and wounds Keller. Phyllis, unknown to Healy, takes Keller to Yeager, another homesteader, who dresses Keller’s wounds. Phil and Healy follow them to Yeager’s, but are mislead by Phyllis, who finds a strange attraction in the suspected rustler. After she leaves, Yeager accuses Keller, who is forced to take Yeager into his confidence and prove to him that he is really a Texas Ranger. When he goes back to town, Keller is arrested. The real rustlers try to place all the blame on Keller, but Phyllis frees him from the jail by a ruse. With the rustlers planning a final round-up that night, Keller rides to the scene while the rustlers lead a posse after him. When they catch him, Keller and Healy engage in a fierce fight on a cliff which ends in Healy’s plunge to his death. Phil, the brother of Phyllis, helps Keller round up the rustlers and is forgiven, while Phyllis finds her faith in Keller vindicated.

Cast

Art Acord as Larrabie Keller
Olive Hasbrouck as Phyllis Sanderson
Blackie Thompson as Phillip Sanderson (credited as Clarence Thompson)
William Steele as Bill Healy (credited as W. A. Steele)
S. E. Jennings as Buck Weaver
Buck Connors as Yeager (credited as George Connors)
Syd Saylor as Slim (credited as Leo Sailor)
Dudley Hendricks as Jim Sanderson
C. E. Anderson

Preservation

With no prints of The Ridin' Rascal located in any film archives,^[4] it is a lost film.

References

^ Munden, p. 652
^ Progressive Silent Film List: The Ridin' Rascal at silentera.com
^ "Universal Synopses: The Ridin' Rascal". Universal Weekly. 25 (9). New York City: Motion Picture Weekly Publishing Company: 40. April 9, 1927. Retrieved October 30, 2023. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ Library of Congress / FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: The Ridin' Rascal

Bibliography

Munden, Kenneth White. The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1. University of California Press, 1997.