The Tryout

The Tryout (1919)

** (out of 4)

Al Jennings, playing himself, takes on a young kid (Tom Ashton) who idolizes him and wants to join the gang. Al agrees to give him a three day tryout and in that time he hopes to teach the young man that the crime life isn't the way to go. THE TRYOUT once again features the reformed outlaw speaking about how everyone should be good, go to church and not do that bad things he did in his life. I will at least admit that Jennings does a pretty good job at playing himself. As an actor he comes across very well on screen and I think he's quite believable being able to play what's basically a part when you consider it's highly doubtful this story is very true. There's just way too much "good guy" stuff thrown at us and especially if you know some of the true stories. With that said, the biggest problem with this film is that the three day journey is just too predictable and nothing exciting ever really happens. Each day the young guy is given a "test" and you know from the start this kid isn't going to cut it. I'd also add that the cinematography was quite poor and there were a couple times where the camera doesn't catch up with the action going on. Take a look at the scene where Al finds that a kid has been beaten. The camera is way too slow panning up to get where the take was going. This here will certainly be for Western buffs only.