Tracy the Outlaw is a silent Western from 1928. Based on a true story, the film follows Harry Tracy as bad luck and circumstance change him from a run-of-the-mill cowpoke to a feared outlaw. An independent production by Foto Art Productions, Tracy the Outlaw doesn’t look like most movies we remember from that same year — it neither has the artistic touches of Victor Sjostrom’s The Wind, the style of The Docks of New York, or any of the technical or narrative polish that was the Hollywood standard by that time. 10 years behind the times, it feels like sometime made in the mid-teens, when features were just getting established and filmmakers were still feeling their way around the format. And that’s exactly why Tracy the Outlaw is important: Hollywood isn’t everything, and outside of it were independent producers and distributors, making raw, unkempt, flawed, and wonderful movies. Its obtuseness is its charm — it doesn’t abide by the rules that were standard. The action sequences follow their own rhythm, their own editing patterns. And its characters don’t always act like they would in a Hollywood production. The ending of Tracy the Outlaw is unexpectedly bleak, making no compromises with its characters or their actions.
by Cullen Gallagher | Source: Videobrary VHS
24 Jun 2009 11:30 PM | Submit Comment
