Just Pals

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Nick M A charming film about a "lazy good-for-nothing" bum named Bim and his happenstance friendship with a child hobo named Bill tumbles out of control into a convoluted catfight of competing narratives that renders the picture nearly unwatchable and erases the good will earned from its earlier scenes. It's such an unnecessary shame, because it started out with promise! There was so much heart baked into the relationship between Bill and Bim (played by Buck Jones) - that's the movie I wanted to keep watching. It's odd, because most of the rest of the elements in the film were verging on tone deaf. The pointless character of the sheriff with his oft-repeated tagline--"The law'll take care o' this!"--was meant to be ruefully endearing, but was just annoying. He uttered his catchphrase nearly half a dozen times, but rarely in moments when it made sense. John Ford directed, but he hasn't yet worked out his craft. There are moments that make the mind perk with interest, but not enough to make a decent picture. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 11/25/24 Full Review Audience Member good character study Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Very early Ford about a heroic hobo and the young tramp he takes under his wing, Just Pals is an entertaining if slight (it runs a short 52 minutes) adventure with likable heroes and a good sense for suspenseful storytelling. Made back when John Ford was known as Jack Ford, and Griffith's thrilling crosscut climaxes and American pastoral settings were all the rage, this Western -- perfect for Ford -- is an early example of clean and efficient filmmaking, even if some of the footage that might make it even tidier is lost for good. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member Well, this is a well done film for 1920, but compared with what the German, French, Italian and even American film was producing it's quite simple. It has good action, good cameras, a not so bad acting - for the period - but it doesn't have the intensity of previous Griffith's works and not the beauty of many European films of the same epoch. But this is Ford in the beginning, we know he made many classics after . :) Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Jack Ford. Funny. There is more plot and character development in this short film (by today’s standards) than in some epics. In that sense it is very sophisticated because it assumes the audience can keep up with all the twists and turns. It looks pretty good, especially considering the age, but I don’t expect it will be on Blu-Ray anytime soon. It’s alternately a very cruel and tender film. Very entertaining. This could easily be remade successfully today, but they’d be hard pressed to make it as emotionally effective. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member A decent enough drama about a guy and a kid. Nothing special, but not bad. Seems like in the old days there were a lot of stories about lazy/bum guys finding a surrogate son and learning responsibility through them. I prefer Chaplin's "The Kid" as far as this theme goes, but there's nothing wrong with this one. As a film,. it hits the right numbers story wise, and Ford seems to all ready be in command of capturing the images he needs to tell the story. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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