Dynamixor
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Tyreece Hulme
One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
Ava-Grace Willis
Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
Sarita Rafferty
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
ksf-2
Having been to "Corriganville", where this shindig was filmed, I recognized some of the filming spots... it's a county park now. Was owned by actor Ray Corrigan, then by Bob Hope (what land in LA or Palm Springs WASN'T owned by Bob Hope at some point?) Your typical oatburner... a dead body is found out in the desert, but when they bring the body back in town, they must figure out who-dunnit. Tim Holt is the good guy, and he's up against the bad bad crew in town. Leroy Mason is the "bad guy", but Clay (Holt) wants to gather as much info as he can before any confrontation. Of course, Cliff Edwards is in here as the sidekick ... he was in so many black & white films as the singer, the comedian, the sidekick, AND probably best known as the voice of Disney's Jiminy Cricket for YEARS. Kind of a slow, droll plot here, but lots of horses, cowboy hats, The dead guy's sister comes to town for a visit, and of course, things get complicated when they don't tell her the brother is dead. Clay gets caught up in the plot, and must prove his own innocence. Directed by Lesley Selander, who had directed TWENTY westerns with Tim Holt, so they certainly had a good working relationship. Story by the prolific Bennet Cohen. he had TONS of stories made into both short and full length films, silents and talkies. It's OK. It's exactly what one expects from an old timey western. kind of interesting that this was made before the good guys in white clothes, bad guys in black clothes theme.
a_chinn
Tim Holt oater has our hero once again falsely accused of murder, arrested, escapes, and then must clear his good name. Jiminy Cricket plays Holt's sidekick, er, I mean Cliff Edwards, who'd later go on to voice Jiminy Cricket, plays Holt's sidekick. It's nothing you haven't seen before in other low budget Holt RKO westerns, but if you enjoy this sort of thing, which I do, you'll likely be entertained by Holt doing the Holt western thing.
bkoganbing
Although this is a Tim Holt western, the title role is played by perennial western villain LeRoy Mason who plays a killer who shoots down a Texas Ranger and steals his badge and identity. It is rancher Tim Holt who hears the shooting and comes to a dying Dennis Moore who points Holt to a moneybelt he was wearing that Mason and his henchmen didn't notice. It contains a letter of identification and some money that he was carrying for his sister Joan Barclay who was meeting him in town.Holt does not expose Mason when he brings in Moore's body, he's hoping in some way that Mason will lead him to who's doing a lot of cattle rustling. But that proves a little too clever and Mason turns the table on him and it's Tim that's wanted for Moore's murder.This was usually the kind of gambit you might more often find in a Roy Rogers western although usually played for a little more humor. Nevertheless Tim does carry it off.Cliff Edwards whose career had a renaissance of sorts when he introduced When You Wish Upon A Star for Walt Disney in Pinnochio is playing the sidekick role for Tim Holt. That's another thing you would find in a Rogers western, a sidekick who was too stupid to know what was going on so Holt would have to explain his moves to him and the audience. Andy Devine was usually just such a sidekick in many Roy Rogers films of the Forties.Again a quality B western from RKO for Tim Holt.
kmoh-1
Very shortly after doing the Magnificent Ambersons, Tim Holt was making Bandit Ranger, one of his innumerable and indistinguishable Westerns. They were all pretty enjoyable, and short enough not to outstay their welcome, and this is no exception. Holt is very young for a rancher, but has the screen presence to overcome this handicap.The plot is absolutely routine: Holt uncovers a murder, for which he is blamed, and has to clear his name while simultaneously keeping a pretty girl out of danger. The girl, as is traditional in this plot, doesn't know Holt, and so he has to win her trust ... and maybe love? This is the plot of dozens of Holt films; here the part of the idiot sidekick is played, not by Richard Martin who came along later, but Cliff Edwards - more of a clown in his Ukelele Ike role, and he has a couple of nice musical numbers. The baddies are bad and plausible. The girl (Joan Barclay) is a bit dim. The twist where the bad guys turn the tables on Tim Holt is a clever one.All in all, very entertaining in its lower case way.