User Reviews

While "Sundown Saunders" is a low-budgeted B-movie, it does stand out in one way--it features one of the nastiest and slimiest villains you'll ever see in a western. Taggart (Ed Cassidy) commits crime after crime after crime and there seems to be no end to his willingness to do evil. First, he convinces a family that he's a government agent and cheats them out of a thousand dollars by basically selling them property belonging to someone else (in this case, it's Sundown Saunders' ranch). Second, he shoots several folks in the back! Third, he plans on robbing the local bank. Fourth, he plans on marrying the daughter of a man he cheated AND who he thinks he's murdered! And, despite all these crimes, the guy is audacious enough to stick around and doesn't hide. Can Sundown Saunders (Bob Steele) and the Sheriff get the goods on this evil galoot and send him to his reward? See the film for yourself!

For the most part, I enjoyed this film. Like other Steele starring films, this diminutive actor did a decent job of acting and his horsemanship was very nice. However, there were a few odd plot problems. When the nice family is cheated and are homesteading on Saunders' property, he says nothing to the family! I sure would have said something--as would any sane person. And, when a local guy sees Taggart sneaking in and out of the hotel by climbing down the roof, why doesn't he bother telling the Sheriff--especially since there have seen a plethora of shootings? Still, the acting is nice, the villain enjoyably rotten and the film kept my interest, so on balance it's well worth seeing.

By the way, although it isn't very important, the version of this film I saw from archive.org was actually 63 minutes long, not the 59 listed on IMDb.

Bob Steele quits/gets fired for him and the boys taking an hour off from ranch work to run a race. Steele wins, of course, but the gambler taking bets doesn't have enough to pay off. Steele settles for a ranch the gambler holds a deed to, unseen, near Panamint. Steele and Milburn Morante head that way, where Marie Burton and her father, Jack Rockwell, are on their way to their ranch near Panamint. It's been found for them by Ed Cassidy. He's the movie's bad guy, and he's masquerading as a 'government locator.' If Rockwell likes it, he'll buy it; of course, it turns out to be Steele's ranch.

There's also a guy whom Steele gets into a fight with, gets killed by Cassidy for his bankroll; Steele is accuse,d but that's handwaved away quickly, and the rest of the movie is about figuring out who the bad guy is.

Although the first half of this movie is slow and erratic, editor S. Roy Luby intercuts the final chase scene very nicely for an exciting finale. Plus it's always fun to watch Steele come up with new ways to get on a horse.

Boss Frank Ball doesn't like slackers so Bob Steele heads for greener pastures with sidekick Milburn Morante and meets gorgeous Marie Burton along the way. He runs headlong into a who's who of great early western actors with Charles King, Earl Dwire, Jack Rockwell, Ed Cassidy, Budd Buster and Frank Ball. Director and writer Robert N. Bradbury knows his craft well and keeps the action at fever pitch.

Robert North Bradbury outdid himself, creating a story and screenplay to star his son, Bob Steele, and providing swift direction to sustain interest throughout the proceedings. For devotees of the fights which are an integral part of western pictures, experts Bob Steele and Charlie King (the latter given a good role here) provide a lively one. Moreover, the story about a young cowboy's receiving title to a ranch in the Panamint in payment of a debt unfolds with the participation of a slew of renowned western character actors - Milburn Morante as a sidekick, Earl Dwire as sheriff, Ed Cassidy as a despicable outlaw (with Eddie Cobb as his associate), Jack Rockwell as an honest homesteader, Bob McKenzie as a gambler, and many others, all warmly remembered by devotees of the genre.

Catherine Cotter, a former child performer on Los Angeles radio, who appeared in stage plays in Southern California, makes an attractive and interesting leading lady. She appeared in few films, despite showing considerable promise.

Mr. Bradbury provides enough twists of the plot to enable suspense, and keeps things moving, the physical action augmented by well-inserted stock footage. Nothing is lacking but the musical scoring which, within a short time, would make most well-produced westerns more exciting for audiences during action sequences. As it stands, this entry in Bob Steele's series for Supreme is a fine one which reflects his father's expertise.

For this former Front-Row Kid turned arm-chair geezer the flick delivers the goods. At first,, I thought I'd tuned into tv's Happy Days as the saloon guys couldn't be happier, standing around laughing with more hand-shakes than a family get-together. But then the plot takes over, the bullets fly fast, the horses fly faster, and Steele shows his acrobatic stuff. And get a load of bad guy Taggart. He never met a guy he couldn't swindle first and does. Just the thought of his possibly riding into the sunset with the sweetly innocent Bess made me grab another beer.

Actually, the plot's more skillfully crafted than most horse operas. I learned something about land deed transference as the plot revolves around who owns the ranch: is it the Prestons, Steele, or the nasty Taggart. Note too a couple of unsual touches: one gang of cowboys actually putting on hat scarves to distinguish themselves in a shoot-out from their rivals, and bad guy Taggart actually shooting Steeles' horse from under him during a chase and winning it. Then too, that final scene with our hero and Bess may be the most satisfying of any programmer, then or now, and shows why Steele deserves 'Sunrise'. All in all, the flick's a well-mounted return to yester-year that even newbees can enjoy.

Excellent cast and director create and perform this excellent script, written by the director, Robert N. Bradbury, Bob Steele's father.

Like so many Bob Steele movies, especially written and directed by his father, it begins with a seemingly innocuous and/or pleasant scene, this time a horse race.

Soon, though, the meat of the story is reached, though with plenty of twists and turns, including a run of luck in a gambling hall (with Horace Murphy playing the house dealer), all perfectly plausible, and well played by some of the best among veteran Western performers.

Perhaps "Sundown Saunders" was intended only to be a program filler, a minor film for the Saturday matinee kids, but it holds up well, even after 87 years.

Bob Steele just got better and better as an actor, obviously serious about his craft. His leading lady, Marie Burton but called here Catherine Cotter, was a lovely and very expressive actress who should have been cast in at least a hundred more roles; her mini-bio here has almost no information but a reviewer says she had been a radio star.

The sheriff is played by the great Earl Dwire, a remarkably versatile actor who could be villain, comic relief, or lawman.

The print of "Sundown Saunders" at YouTube is too dark, but very well worth the effort to watch. I hope you do.

This is only a fair B-Western that delivers a little bit of action and a couple of high points. It stars Bob Steele as "Sundown Saunders", who has to sort out a tangle-up regarding a ranch, deal with an accusation against himself, and help out the heroine and her father. It's fairly conventional stuff, and Steele is likable but unexceptional as the little-guy hero who has to do battle with the big guys. The bad guys cause their share of trouble, but are too unimaginative to provide really worthy opponents for Sundown. It's only worth a look if you like any and all old Westerns.