HOME MOVIES: 1940’S

Genre: home movie

Year Published: 1940s

Format: 16mm

Description: This is a silent home movie from the 1940s -- an era when the Western dude ranch was a common vacation destination. This film takes viewers on a sight seeing, colorful tour through Wickenburg, Arizona as a family takes a vacation to the Monte Vista Ranch. Monte Vista Ranch is now a gated community located within a neighborhood of Wickenburg, in Maricopa County. The area includes the Hassayampa River, Vulture Mountains as well as the Wickenburg Mountains. The film opens with footage of a small child on horseback curving in and out of wooden poles stuck in the ground (:10) with the ranch viewed in the background. Horses and riders are led from a coral for a scenic trail ride (:29). A mare and her foal are seen nibbling on grass in a pasture (:36) as a young boy runs up to the foal. A woman in bright yellow attire moves through a dirt parking lot on horseback (1:09). Cacti rise all over the land (1:11). A young boy atop a Palomino horse is zoomed in on (1:44). Children play along a rocky shoreline and toss rocks and pebbles into the waters (2:24). The family enjoys the sun and sand (3:11). Riders wade through shallow waters (3:45). Yellow flowering blossoms are seen growing up the hills (4:19). Shots of the family whom went on the trip follows (4:39). A wedding scene plays out as a priest begins to marry a young couple (4:52) while another man enters and breaks up the wedding, stealing the bride for himself (5:26). An older relative breaks up a fight between two young boys (6:09). The former bride sits on a bench (6:39) as the man whom had broken up the wedding arrives (6:53). A miniature Texaco gas station is then seen (7:00). Two riders are seen again as a car rides through shallow water near them with a man hanging on the outside of the car (7:31). A woman dances as her shoes are zoomed in on and then plays a game of Double Dutch (8:08). Spectators watch relay races as young riders pass off batons to one another (8:41). Sheep are released as a competition to hog tie sheep commences (9:13). A man and young rider demonstrate lasso tricks as the man whips a large lasso around them (9:48). Additional lasso tricks are demonstrated as the man stands on the ground (9:58). A desert spiney lizard is zoomed in on (11:34) as well as a baby greater short-horned lizard (11:49). A large rattlesnake (12:04) and a Gila monster (12:35) are then shown. Rattlesnakes are prompted to strike with the use of long poles and a balloon (13:48). Bright cacti blossoms are zoomed in on (14:30). The film begins to wrap up with scenic footage (15:30) of the area as well as the family bidding one another goodbye at the end of the trip (16:54).

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