The Round-Up
“Nobody loves a fat man”
About The Round-Up
When Dick Lane (Irving Cummings) fails to return from Arizona, Echo Allen (Mabel Julienne Scott) agrees to marry Jack Payson (Tom Forman), and Dick walks in on the wedding night. Jack sends him off after taking the three thousand dollars Dick owed, and outlaw Buck McKee (Wallace Beery), who has robbed the express office, uses that cash to pin the crime on Jack. Echo sends Jack into the desert after Dick, with Sheriff Slim Hoover (Roscoe Arbuckle) following. Indians mortally wound Dick. The cavalry arrives in time for the dying statement that clears Jack, and Echo takes him back.
Cast & crew
More about The Round-Up
George Melford directed Tom Forman and Edmund Day's adaptation of Day's 1907 play, a Broadway hit for Macklyn Arbuckle and Julia Dean. Jesse L. Lasky produced it for Famous Players-Lasky, which released the 7-reel film on October 10, 1920. The copyright date is August 26, 1920.
Themes
Look
Paul P. Perry photographed the 7-reel western.
Music
Silent, with English intertitles.
Preservation
A print survives and circulates. The Museum of Modern Art screened it in 2006.
Notes
- Arbuckle plays Sheriff Slim Hoover, not the romantic lead. The studio put him in the western so he would not sit idle between comedies.
- Macklyn Arbuckle, Roscoe's older cousin, created the line "nobody loves a fat man" in the stage role. The film's advertisements used it.
- Jean Acker plays Polly Hope. Guy Oliver, A. Edward Sutherland, and Jane Wolfe are also in the cast.
- The Museum of Modern Art ran it in April and May 2006 inside a 56-film Arbuckle retrospective, then ran the whole series a second time.
Scenes
- Dick Lane walks in on the night Echo is to marry Jack Payson.
- Buck McKee pins his express-office robbery on the money Jack took from Dick.
- The cavalry reaches the desert fight in time to hear Dick clear Jack.
Influenced by
- Edmund Day's 1907 play The Round Up
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Round-Up (1920).webm)
Quotes
Nobody loves a fat man
