Wow, I can't recall another movie in which antagonists threatened death or bodily harm to each other in face to face situations as much as this one. Dick Loomis (Dwight Frye) and Nick Grindel (Wheeler Oakman) promised to kill each other more than once during the story, and it actually sounded kind of comical when Grindel told Tim Barrett (Tim McCoy) that 'this town ain't big enough for the both of us'. It reminded me of Yosemite Sam going up against Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny in those old time Warner Brothers cartoons of the era. Along with the challenge in my summary line above by McCoy's character, probably a couple of the most over used lines in B Western movies.
Well this one got pretty interesting leading up to the resolution of the story. But you know what was kind of creepy? Bad guy Grindel, who was once married to Polly Loomis' (Nora Lane) mother, now wants to marry Polly! What!?!? I can't fault the guy for his taste in women, but gee, that was kind of weird for a story line.
There were a couple of cool plot elements here that I hadn't seen before. I thought it was pretty clever that a hope chest at the Bow Knot Ranch was actually the hidden entrance to an underground hiding place for Grindel and his cohort Worden (Matthew Betz). Then, when Polly and Dick discovered the murdered Grindel in separate scenes, it turned out to be the disfigured body of a man who called Pat Barrett in on the case in the first place! That was actually a clever piece of writing given the era, something you might have found in a murder mystery instead of a Western.
So all in all I didn't mind the way the picture had the viewer jumping through hoops to get to the finale. There was more of a story here than your standard horse chases and shoot 'em up scenes, and even Barrett's dust up with Grindel at the Red Phoenix Saloon looked pretty realistic if the camera would have slowed it down a little bit. Next time out though, I think Tim McCoy should order up a whiskey at the bar instead of a pack of chewing gum.
Well this one got pretty interesting leading up to the resolution of the story. But you know what was kind of creepy? Bad guy Grindel, who was once married to Polly Loomis' (Nora Lane) mother, now wants to marry Polly! What!?!? I can't fault the guy for his taste in women, but gee, that was kind of weird for a story line.
There were a couple of cool plot elements here that I hadn't seen before. I thought it was pretty clever that a hope chest at the Bow Knot Ranch was actually the hidden entrance to an underground hiding place for Grindel and his cohort Worden (Matthew Betz). Then, when Polly and Dick discovered the murdered Grindel in separate scenes, it turned out to be the disfigured body of a man who called Pat Barrett in on the case in the first place! That was actually a clever piece of writing given the era, something you might have found in a murder mystery instead of a Western.
So all in all I didn't mind the way the picture had the viewer jumping through hoops to get to the finale. There was more of a story here than your standard horse chases and shoot 'em up scenes, and even Barrett's dust up with Grindel at the Red Phoenix Saloon looked pretty realistic if the camera would have slowed it down a little bit. Next time out though, I think Tim McCoy should order up a whiskey at the bar instead of a pack of chewing gum.
