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20 Mule Team

1940, Movie, NR, 82 mins

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This well-made, entertaining western features Beery and Carrillo as a mule skinner and a half-breed scout carrying shipments of borax across the desert. Some new deposits are found, and bad guy Fowley wants to jump Beery and Carrillo's claim. Baxter (in her film debut) is Rambeau's daughter and the love interest for the bad guy. There's plenty of action, of course, all neatly handled within the confines of the slightly unusual western plot. It's directed with vigor and played nicely by the ensemble. Reviews and box office for this were both very good and convinced Beery that the western was the genre for him. He spent most of his remaining career doing films in that category as a result. Beery had been looking for a female screen counterpart since the death of Marie Dressler in 1934. This movie was expected to be the first of a series of films opposite Rambeau, but the actress was seriously hurt in a car accident after TWENTY MULE TEAM was made, and Marjorie Main became Beery's film partner. leave a comment
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