Encore Westerns featured a six-gun salute to Lash La Rue today, and I would have been remiss if I didn't take in at least one of his pictures. In this story, the black clad cowboy hero rides in to Mesa City as Marshal Cheyenne Davis along with partner and deputy Fuzzy Jones (Fuzzy St. John). They've been sent to help the owner of a stage company who's on the brink of foreclosure unless he can land a government mail contract. Said owner, John Watson (Steve Clark) is dispatched early by the bad guys, and things look pretty bleak for his son and daughter who plan to continue running the business.
It wouldn't be too far off to say that a good half of this picture's run time is taken up by endless chase scenes back and forth with the villains creating havoc all over the countryside. Cheyenne and Fuzzy are just close enough each time to ride in and make the save. There's a scene where bad guy Baxter (Marshall Reed) goes for his gun to draw down on 'Chey', and he strips the gun from the outlaw's hand with the bull-whip with the kind of confidence that made La Rue a 'B' Western matinée favorite in the Forties.
For this outing, Fuzzy has a gimmick where he carries around a figurine of Sitting Bull for good luck, which comes in handy in one of the shoot 'em up scenes. He's always good for a chuckle if only for his appearance alone, but he gets his share of pratfalls in during the fight scenes as usual.
Pretty Jennifer Holt makes another appearance in a Lash film as one of the Watson siblings. You'll also see her with Lash and Fuzzy in "The Fighting Vigilantes" and "Ghost Town Renegades". The character of her brother Bob was portrayed by Brad Slaven.
The story's finale of course is never in doubt. There's an early hook thrown the viewer when lawyer Baxter keeps throwing out references to the unseen boss calling the shots. It would have been to easy to lay that one on the disinterested sheriff (Lee Morgan), but instead the film makers settled on the post office master in a wheelchair. Attempting to get away from Cheyenne, he makes a lame move with a blanket before getting boxed up by the marshal and returned for postage due.
It wouldn't be too far off to say that a good half of this picture's run time is taken up by endless chase scenes back and forth with the villains creating havoc all over the countryside. Cheyenne and Fuzzy are just close enough each time to ride in and make the save. There's a scene where bad guy Baxter (Marshall Reed) goes for his gun to draw down on 'Chey', and he strips the gun from the outlaw's hand with the bull-whip with the kind of confidence that made La Rue a 'B' Western matinée favorite in the Forties.
For this outing, Fuzzy has a gimmick where he carries around a figurine of Sitting Bull for good luck, which comes in handy in one of the shoot 'em up scenes. He's always good for a chuckle if only for his appearance alone, but he gets his share of pratfalls in during the fight scenes as usual.
Pretty Jennifer Holt makes another appearance in a Lash film as one of the Watson siblings. You'll also see her with Lash and Fuzzy in "The Fighting Vigilantes" and "Ghost Town Renegades". The character of her brother Bob was portrayed by Brad Slaven.
The story's finale of course is never in doubt. There's an early hook thrown the viewer when lawyer Baxter keeps throwing out references to the unseen boss calling the shots. It would have been to easy to lay that one on the disinterested sheriff (Lee Morgan), but instead the film makers settled on the post office master in a wheelchair. Attempting to get away from Cheyenne, he makes a lame move with a blanket before getting boxed up by the marshal and returned for postage due.