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In Old Arizona

Play trailer Poster for In Old Arizona Released Jan 20, 1929 1h 37m Western Play Trailer Watchlist
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56% Tomatometer 9 Reviews 35% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
In this early Western, notorious bandit the Cisco Kid (Warner Baxter) is so feared that he rarely has to fire his gun to rob a stagecoach. His ravishing girlfriend, Tonia (Dorothy Burgess), often accuses him of being unfaithful, but he assures her that he loves only her, and even composes a song in her name. When Cavalry Sgt. Mickey Dunn (Edmund Lowe) arrives with a mission to capture or kill the Mexican Robin Hood, Cisco matches wits with him and discovers an unexpected betrayal.
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In Old Arizona

Critics Reviews

View All (9) Critics Reviews
Mordaunt Hall New York Times [A] distinctly enjoyable offering. Rated: 4/5 Jan 26, 2012 Full Review Variety Staff Variety It's the first outdoor talker and a western, with a climax twist to make the story stand out from the usual hill and dale thesis. Jan 26, 2012 Full Review Peter Canavese Groucho Reviews The first major Western in sound...One can occasionally feel the filmmakers showing off the technology, with close-ups of a crying baby or sizzling ham and eggs. [Blu-ray] Rated: 2.5/4 Jun 11, 2013 Full Review TV Guide Famous for being the first major sound western, this picture made progressive use of exterior sound and photography. Rated: 3/4 Jan 26, 2012 Full Review Michael E. Grost Classic Film and Television Uneven film with brilliant comedy relief by Edmund Lowe, and lots to interest fans of Raoul Walsh. Jul 17, 2009 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Warner Baxter, better known as the dying producer in 42nd Street, won Best Actor Oscar as the Cisco Kid in this primitivee Western, most of which takes place indoorse. Rated: C Mar 3, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (28) audience reviews
ChrisCSH H “In old Arizona”famous for being an academy award best picture nominee also first western talkie, The film is enjoyable with a interesting main character the Cisco kid and a interesting plot and story with a nice little ending twist makes this first ever talking western enjoyable. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/28/24 Full Review Audience Member Credited with creating the image of the singing cowboy, its star Warner Baxter won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Steve D predictable and nonsensical. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 04/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Warner Baxter won an Oscar for his portrayal of the Cisco Kid in Raoul Walsh's western, the first talkie shot on location; most of the film is creaky and slow by today's standards, and the portrayal of Mexicans in abhorrent. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review bill k omg - you really have to love the old talkies to make it through this one. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 04/17/17 Full Review Audience Member Some people would say you have to take into consideration when a film was made and the conditions at the time the film was made to effectively review it. Luckily, I don’t burden myself with all that, because I review films solely based on how they work for me when I watch them. As a result, I can say that I didn’t like In Old Arizona all that much. Sure, it was a landmark because it was one of the first feature films that used sound, but that didn’t impact my personal opinion. In fact, the newness of sound led this movie down some strange paths, as they added in moments that seemed completely out of left field until I realized they were experimenting with the sounds they could record. To me it was a bit like watching early 3-D films that would just insert shots of things poking out right at the camera in order to play with the new technology, except in this scenario it’s a random crying baby brought on screen or a pan of sizzling ham and eggs. When you get past that aspect of the film, In Old Arizona is a decent story about a bandit with a heart of gold. I love that, even in this era well before the production code, they still felt a need to make the Cisco Kid a good guy. The nice thing about this movie is that it also makes the Sergeant sympathetic, even though he’s trying to catch our hero. This dynamic makes it so we don’t know how the end will play out and who will win. The actual conclusion of the film is pretty daring, and one that surprised me a little. It wasn’t enough to make me love the movie, but I appreciated that the story wasn’t totally predictable. Perhaps the most frustrating part of this movie (aside from the understandably bad sound quality) was that they didn’t quite have enough story to fill the runtime. There was a lot of moments where I felt the movie drag, and that’s probably why I noticed all the little sound experiments I mentioned earlier, because they were extending things when I just wanted to see what happened next. I can see film historians needing to watch In Old Arizona because of the progress it made, but for most people I’d say you can skip this one. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews
In Old Arizona

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Movie Info

Synopsis In this early Western, notorious bandit the Cisco Kid (Warner Baxter) is so feared that he rarely has to fire his gun to rob a stagecoach. His ravishing girlfriend, Tonia (Dorothy Burgess), often accuses him of being unfaithful, but he assures her that he loves only her, and even composes a song in her name. When Cavalry Sgt. Mickey Dunn (Edmund Lowe) arrives with a mission to capture or kill the Mexican Robin Hood, Cisco matches wits with him and discovers an unexpected betrayal.
Director
Raoul Walsh
Screenwriter
Tom Barry
Distributor
Fox
Genre
Western
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 20, 1929, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 12, 2017
Runtime
1h 37m
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