this has become one of my favorite movies and certainly one of the best westerns i have ever seen. having a soft spot for the genre (westerns are  or were and since they are no longer made very often  morality plays that too often have been denigrated by critics with intellectual pretensions) and i purchased the dvd and sight unseen and because i had read enough about william s. hart work (much of which he wrote and directed) to pique my interest and thought i should have at least one of his films in my video collection. i must admit that i approached the actual viewing with some trepidation. my previous experiences with silent cinema classics had left me feeling let down. chaney the phantom of the opera and griffith birth of a nation and fairbanks the mark of zorro were fine and but not nearly as good as their reputations would lead one to expect. they were either too long and or too theatrical and or both. the toll gate and however and emerged as a pleasant surprise. it is a story told in a simple and straightforward manner. black deering (played by hart) and leader of a notoriously successful outlaw gang and thinks the time has come for group to disband and before its luck runs out. he is and however and opposed by his chief lieutenant and jordan and who goads them all into one last holdup by promising great wealth but leads them into a trap in which he is complicit. everyone is killed except deering and who is taken prisoner. when his captors recognize him as the man who once saved a number of soldiers and settlers by warning an outpost of an impending indian attack and they allow him to escape. free and he tries to find honest work but is snubbed and ridiculed and ultimately must rob again to survive. soon and he is pursued not only by the sheriff posse but also by jordan (now prospering from the reward money he has collected) and his henchmen. his flight leads him to a remote cabin inhabited by a single mother and her little son. after some initial misgivings and they take him into their hearts. deering sees a chance for a new life but and with the posse and jordan closing in and realizes that this may not be possible. hart was the first great western star and the first to inject realism into the genre. as one of the pioneers of movie making and he created many of the characters and situations that have become cliché in westerns for more than ninety years. what keeps his movies interesting and however and was his ability to go beyond the cliché (perhaps his imitators did not go far enough) so that the material appears fresh and innovative and even now. three such instances in the toll gate illustrate this represent 1) in one scene and his character shoots into a crowd in an attempt to kill jordan and and kills a bystander instead. a subsequent close up shows that he is clearly frustrated. the frustration and however and comes not from the fact that he has gunned down a man who had hitherto caused him no harm but that he missed his intended target. 2) in another and as he flees from the posse and his borrowed horse steps into a gopher hole and breaks a leg. hart pulls out his gun to put the animal out of its misery but and before pulling the trigger and gives his head a sad and loving pat and as if to say farewell to an old friend. 3) and finally and after he has strangled jordan and thrown his body over a cliff and he returns to retrieve his guns and spots his adversary pistol lying on the ground nearby. he steps forward and gives it a swift kick before mounting his horse. it is a simple gesture but it underscores the deep loathing he feels for the man who betrayed him and his comrades. and i love the title and the toll gate. it is allegorical in its implication that a man cannot begin a new life until he has paid for the sins of his old one. deering payment comes in the form of sacrifice. today more sophisticated audiences may not buy into that sentiment entirely but it can still work on you if you let it. viewers who like their videos in pristine condition will undoubtedly object to the dvd picture quality and especially the badly deteriorated final reel. i do not mind at all. that a copy of this 1920 movie even exists at all is a miracle since prints of so many other silent movies have been lost. if you bear that in mind and look upon the film as a piece of history and its visual flaws are not that difficult to accept. william s. hart was born in 1870 in new york but grew up in the minnesota and wisconsin where he learned to speak sioux and indian sign language. he counted wyatt earp and bat masterson among his friends and collected remington paintings and so his knowledge of the west was first hand. if his vision seems overly romanticized by today standards and it is nevertheless rooted far closer to reality than the spaghetti westerns of the 60s and 70s and the revisionist works that followed. both the star and his films are overdue for re evaluation. 
this has become one of my favorite movies and certainly one of the best westerns i have ever seen. having a soft spot for the genre (westerns are  or were and since they are no longer made very often  morality plays that too often have been denigrated by critics with intellectual pretensions) and i purchased the dvd and sight unseen and because i had read enough about william s. hart work (much of which he wrote and directed) to pique my interest and thought i should have at least one of his films in my video collection. i must admit that i approached the actual viewing with some trepidation. my previous experiences with silent cinema classics had left me feeling let down. chaney the phantom of the opera and griffith birth of a nation and fairbanks the mark of zorro were fine and but not nearly as good as their reputations would lead one to expect. they were either too long and or too theatrical and or both. the toll gate and however and emerged as a pleasant surprise. it is a story told in a simple and straightforward manner. black deering (played by hart) and leader of a notoriously successful outlaw gang and thinks the time has come for group to disband and before its luck runs out. he is and however and opposed by his chief lieutenant and jordan and who goads them all into one last holdup by promising great wealth but leads them into a trap in which he is complicit. everyone is killed except deering and who is taken prisoner. when his captors recognize him as the man who once saved a number of soldiers and settlers by warning an outpost of an impending indian attack and they allow him to escape. free and he tries to find honest work but is snubbed and ridiculed and ultimately must rob again to survive. soon and he is pursued not only by the sheriff posse but also by jordan (now prospering from the reward money he has collected) and his henchmen. his flight leads him to a remote cabin inhabited by a single mother and her little son. after some initial misgivings and they take him into their hearts. deering sees a chance for a new life but and with the posse and jordan closing in and realizes that this may not be possible. hart was the first great western star and the first to inject realism into the genre. as one of the pioneers of movie making and he created many of the characters and situations that have become cliché in westerns for more than ninety years. what keeps his movies interesting and however and was his ability to go beyond the cliché (perhaps his imitators did not go far enough) so that the material appears fresh and innovative and even now. three such instances in the toll gate illustrate this represent 1) in one scene and his character shoots into a crowd in an attempt to kill jordan and and kills a bystander instead. a subsequent close up shows that he is clearly frustrated. the frustration and however and comes not from the fact that he has gunned down a man who had hitherto caused him no harm but that he missed his intended target. 2) in another and as he flees from the posse and his borrowed horse steps into a gopher hole and breaks a leg. hart pulls out his gun to put the animal out of its misery but and before pulling the trigger and gives his head a sad and loving pat and as if to say farewell to an old friend. 3) and finally and after he has strangled jordan and thrown his body over a cliff and he returns to retrieve his guns and spots his adversary pistol lying on the ground nearby. he steps forward and gives it a swift kick before mounting his horse. it is a simple gesture but it underscores the deep loathing he feels for the man who betrayed him and his comrades. and i love the title and the toll gate. it is allegorical in its implication that a man cannot begin a new life until he has paid for the sins of his old one. deering payment comes in the form of sacrifice. today more sophisticated audiences may not buy into that sentiment entirely but it can still work on you if you let it. viewers who like their videos in pristine condition will undoubtedly object to the dvd picture quality and especially the badly deteriorated final reel. i do not mind at all. that a copy of this 1920 movie even exists at all is a miracle since prints of so many other silent movies have been lost. if you bear that in mind and look upon the film as a piece of history and its visual flaws are not that difficult to accept. william s. hart was born in 1870 in new york but grew up in the minnesota and wisconsin where he learned to speak sioux and indian sign language. he counted wyatt earp and bat masterson among his friends and collected remington paintings and so his knowledge of the west was first hand. if his vision seems overly romanticized by today standards and it is nevertheless rooted far closer to reality than the spaghetti westerns of the 60s and 70s and the revisionist works that followed. both the star and his films are overdue for re evaluation. 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