When his brother is shot dead by crooked bank cashier Lafe Kildare, Curt Fremont poses as a weak-kneed scaredy-cat. In reality, he is vengeance-seeking "El Capitan".
The script sounds promising enough, but it's given an economy-budget treatment -- and worse, it's full of holes. One moment, Sally Eilers (Gibson's wife in real life when this movie was made) is telling us how she remembers the hero's act of bravery in saving her life, and next minute she's convinced he's turned coward. Maybe the screenwriter is trying to portray the heroine as a dumb cluck, but that's not the way Sally Eilers plays the part.
It's also rather odd to see Robert Homans, that perennial policeman on the contemporary city beat, transferred to a role as an avuncular rancher in the Old West.
Nonetheless, despite script flaws (including scenes that run too long and others that seem short-changed), director Otto Brower manages to invest the movie with a bit of pace and atmosphere, despite an obviously limited budget. Of course, he's helped by the fact that Hooper Atchley is playing the slimy villain with all stops out, while Edward Peil makes a convincingly sympathetic sheriff.
We could have done without George Mendoza and his occasional weak attempts at comic relief, but Hoot Gibson himself does a good job in both his characterizations. He's also admirably agile on his feet and performs at least two of his own stunts
The script sounds promising enough, but it's given an economy-budget treatment -- and worse, it's full of holes. One moment, Sally Eilers (Gibson's wife in real life when this movie was made) is telling us how she remembers the hero's act of bravery in saving her life, and next minute she's convinced he's turned coward. Maybe the screenwriter is trying to portray the heroine as a dumb cluck, but that's not the way Sally Eilers plays the part.
It's also rather odd to see Robert Homans, that perennial policeman on the contemporary city beat, transferred to a role as an avuncular rancher in the Old West.
Nonetheless, despite script flaws (including scenes that run too long and others that seem short-changed), director Otto Brower manages to invest the movie with a bit of pace and atmosphere, despite an obviously limited budget. Of course, he's helped by the fact that Hooper Atchley is playing the slimy villain with all stops out, while Edward Peil makes a convincingly sympathetic sheriff.
We could have done without George Mendoza and his occasional weak attempts at comic relief, but Hoot Gibson himself does a good job in both his characterizations. He's also admirably agile on his feet and performs at least two of his own stunts