Good Bad Men Are Hard To Find

Bill Hart Mows 'Em Down in Knight Of The Trail (1915)

William S. Hart has another romance impeded by road agent/badman past. The title is tip to Bill's essential goodness. As was case in so many of his, it only took a right woman to sever ties with outlawry. Any Hart yarn could be told in two reels, reason maybe for his early shorts being a best intro to the cowboy immortal's stuff. Bill would invariably start as a man with secrets and emotions pent up, payoff deriving from disposal of no-goods that have misled the gal he loves or town he protects. Knight Of The Trail situates Hart alone in crowds, seldom facing others at the bar, a solitary drinker even when surrounded. At cards he's disengaged, unless someone cheats, then it's hell from both barrels. There were more close-ups for Hart than was accorded most stars, his face a reliable map to where stories were headed. Being older, and looking it, relieved Bill of action expectation a Tom Mix would have, and that eventually made his stuff seem quaint. Hart's approach by nature wouldn't change with times, but he had a nice run and kept standards high at work he did.