AllMovie

Independent producer Jesse J. Goldburg (the initial "J" stood for "Jesse!") released this minor offering starring second-echelon cowboy Bob Custer. More a comedy of errors than a true red-blooded western melodrama, The Dude Cowboy is the tale of a rancher (Custer) who hires himself out as a chauffeur for a pretty gal (Flora Bramley. In one of those coincidences so beloved by Hollywood hacks (in this case, Paul M. Bryan), the girl is on her way to Custer's dude ranch. The hero, smitten with the girl, keeps up the charade until the ever-present crooked foreman (Bruce Gordon forces his hand. Screenwriter Bryan threw a couple of stranded chorus girls and a fake count into the already outlandish plot. The heroine, British-born Flora Bramley, had appeared in the stage hit Cradle Snatchers before entering films in 1926. She was voted a 1928 WAMPAS Baby Star by the Hollywood publicists but returned to the stage soon after.