ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

arfdawg-1 With the railroad coming to Red Rock, trouble is expected and Billy has been sent to help his friend Fuzzy who is the town's Sheriff, Judge, and barber. When the man that sent Billy is murdered and the railroad location map stolen, broken match sticks point to Vic Landreau. While Billy tries to find the missing map, Landreau suspects Billy is on to him and plans to have him killed. One of the slowest westerns you'll ever see.Stars Buster Crabbe and Al St John who was related to Fatty Arbuckle and a friend of Buster Keaton.

bigdave11243 First of all, it needs to be borne in mind that this is an unpretentious B-Western, not a big-budget "A" extravaganza. Some reviewers here seem to have measured this routine programmer against a more expensive set of standards. It is true that to today's audiences the comic sidekick, a staple in the B's, can seem contrived and unfunny, and Al "Fuzzy" St. John, whose career dates from the silent era, can seem especially out-dated and even bizarre -- that is, if one does not have a taste for slapstick antics and acrobatic-tinged mugging. But such was his appeal that he appeared in several hundred short silent films and sound features spanning three or four decades.Olympic gold medalist (swimming) Buster Crabbe was likewise a versatile and reliable performer, whether as Tarzan, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Captain Gallant (TV), cowboy hero, and supporting actor in some bigger-budgeted Westerns, and miscellaneous TV roles.It is also true that the "series Western" could have some occasional duds, and could become repetitious as audiences or actors had had their fill of too much sameness. Of course, to the die-hard fan, such familiarity and dependability is part of the appeal of the B-Westerns. And that includes favorite heavies -- in this case Charles King, Bob Cason, and Frank Ellis -- and the formulaic fisticuffs and chases.It also helps when there is an unexpected touch of humor or dialog. For just one example: hero Crabbe barges into the back room where baddie Charlie King is sitting at his desk. "I didn't hear you knock," says King dryly. Just as dryly, Crabbe calmly turns to the door he has just come through and raps on it a few times, and, totally unintimidated, again faces the scheming villain. Even some of Fuzzy's shenanigans Although sometimes Fuzzy's comic set-pieces seem to go on for too long, the humor extends to some of the bit players as well (watch for the oblivious checker players, the interpolation of the geezer in the bathtub, Fuzzy's whittling away at the customer's beard to create the likenesses of other famous historical figures. Everyone involves seem to be enjoying themselves, with the result that this entry in the "Billy Carson" series is a notch or two above what one might expect.Okay, it's not TRUE GRIT and it's not SHANE, but it's still a pleasurable little bit of entertainment.

FightingWesterner In this long in the tooth episode in Producers Releasing Corporation's Billy Carson series, Carson and sidekick Fuzzy Jones (this time working as a barber/justice of the peace) investigate the murder of a railroad man carrying secret plans for a railroad line.Shadows Of Death is a great title but the film itself is just plain awful. There's lots of hair-cutting, talking, and hanging around but little action. Billy and Fuzzy's sleuthing is pretty yawn inducing this go around.The best thing about this is the climactic fist fight at the end.Charles King (who's always good) plays the fat cat villain for the umpteenth time. This guy seems to come back more than Freddy Krueger!Watch some of Crabbe's earlier pictures instead.

Spuzzlightyear Well, here's something I didn't know, aside from making laughable serials, Crabbe also made quite a number of westerns. Here, in the amazingly titled Shadows Of Death, Crabbe is presented as the "King of The Wild West" (??) and that he and his partner, affectionately (I'm sure) named Fuzzy (there's always a sidekick in these westerns that wind up with a stupid name) are presented as "Our Old Pals". Whatever you say Mr. Movie! Anyways, Crabbe arrives into town to help his friend Fuzzy with a suspicious individual who may or may not have murdered a courier with some important documents to widen a town. There's also a feeble love interest in there somewhere for good measure. All in all, this Western was certainly passable, it was certainly surprising to see Buster Crabbe in something else than Sci-Fi, and he actually looks comfortable in a cowboy hat. The plot is not bad, but I could have liked a little less stupid comedy from Fuzzy. All in all, not bad.