At first, I really liked this film because it offered a different sort of film for Mary Pickford. Instead of the typical film she made where she was cast as a child, here she plays an honest-to-goodness woman. Considering the film was made in 1917, this is not super-unusual, but after Pickford played in dozens of films where she pretended to be characters as young as 8! Also, oddly, this is a western--the sort of film you normally would not associate with Pickford. Unfortunately, while I loved this novelty and much of the film, the whole thing ended quite badly--and it undermined the movie badly.
The film begins with Mary's father dying. She is convinced to travel west and live with her uncle. However, at about the same time, the uncle is killed in an Indian attack and an outlaw assumes the uncle's identity. Now I thought for sure than he'd fool Mary and she'd only find out the truth late in the movie. However, Mary must have known her uncle, as she instantly sees the guy is NOT the uncle. However, and this is BIZARRE, she agrees to pretend he is her uncle--even though the logic of this is fuzzy to say the least.
Over time, the 'uncle' is supposed to fall for Mary and reform. Well, this is partly true. While he falls in love with her and promises to change, he really doesn't. However, inexplicably, Mary STILL agrees to marry him AND what happens next is just freaking weird...and dumb. And so ends the movie. You just have to see it to understand what I mean--but it is pretty bad. And so, when the movie ends, you are left focusing less on the good in the film (and there was plenty) but on the bad.
The film begins with Mary's father dying. She is convinced to travel west and live with her uncle. However, at about the same time, the uncle is killed in an Indian attack and an outlaw assumes the uncle's identity. Now I thought for sure than he'd fool Mary and she'd only find out the truth late in the movie. However, Mary must have known her uncle, as she instantly sees the guy is NOT the uncle. However, and this is BIZARRE, she agrees to pretend he is her uncle--even though the logic of this is fuzzy to say the least.
Over time, the 'uncle' is supposed to fall for Mary and reform. Well, this is partly true. While he falls in love with her and promises to change, he really doesn't. However, inexplicably, Mary STILL agrees to marry him AND what happens next is just freaking weird...and dumb. And so ends the movie. You just have to see it to understand what I mean--but it is pretty bad. And so, when the movie ends, you are left focusing less on the good in the film (and there was plenty) but on the bad.