The Trail Rider

The Trail Rider
The Trail Rider
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	W. S. Van Dyke
Screenplay by	Thomas Dixon Jr.
Based on	The Trail Rider; by George Washington Ogden
Produced by	William Fox
Starring	Buck Jones
Cinematography	Reginald Lyons
Production; company	Fox Film Corp.
Distributed by	Fox Film Corp.
Release date	February 22, 1925 (US);
Running time	50 minutes; 4,752 feet, 5 reels;
Country	United States
Languages	Silent; English intertitles

The Trail Rider is a 1925 American silent Western film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starring Buck Jones. Based on the 1924 novel The Trail Rider: A Romance of the Kansas Range by George Washington Ogden, the film is about a trail rider hired to protect ranchers from the actions of a corrupt banker. The film was produced by Fox Film Corp. and was released on February 22, 1925, in the United States. It marked Gary Cooper’s film debut as a stunt rider. It is not known whether the film currently survives.

Plot

Tex Hartwell (Buck Jones) rescues an old cobbler from the physical assault of corrupt banker Jim Mackey (Carl Stockdale). When Mackey orders his hired guns to kill Tex, the stranger outdraws them. Rancher Dee Winch (Jack McDonald) is impressed with Tex's fast draw and hires him as a trail rider, tasked with keeping diseased cattle off of his land.^[2]

Sometime later, Mackey's men stampede a herd of infected cattle onto Winch's land. When Winch learns of the infected cattle, he fires Tex, who leaves in disgrace. Meanwhile, Tex learns from Fanny Goodnight (Lucy Fox) that Mackey was behind the stampede of infected cattle. Tex confronts the corrupt banker and forces him to sign a confession admitting to his guilt. Later, the old cobbler kills Mackey, Tex's reputation is restored with the cattlemen, and he and Fanny ride trail together on their own.^[2]