I was surprised to hear Tim Holt give his partner Chito Rafferty (Richard Martin) some bad advice, bad in the sense that it was just what Chito would have wanted to hear. When a famous lawman's daughter (Linda Douglas) arrives in Pecos instead of her father, Tim advises 'don't let that girl out of your sight'! With pleasure Tim!
The story line is a typical one for a B Western. A local town boss is buying up rancher land with the prospect of a railroad moving in, and lone holdout Bailey (John Hamilton) expects to be paid what his land is worth. Without much thought given to credibility by the writers, Bailey accepts what he believes to be fifteen thousand dollars for his property, then winds up with only fifteen hundred. Why he wouldn't have counted the money first before handing over the deed was another example of a sloppy plot contrivance to move the story along, and just a groaner if you're watching the picture as an adult instead of a matinée fan back in the day.
The film also missed an opportunity by showing what a crack shot Terry Moran was with a rifle, but then didn't use her skill to affect the outcome. Overall, the picture is a rather bland affair for Tim Holt's next to last Western. However the version shown on Encore Westerns last night, in their feature time slot at 8:00 PM, offered unusually crisp black and white photography to make the viewing experience quite enjoyable.
I'll finish with a bit of trivia, noting how magnificent Tim Holt's horse looked in the picture. He rode a number of different mounts in his movies, often a palomino named Lightning when teaming with Richard Martin. Winding down his career in Westerns, it looks as if the black horse he was riding in this picture was one called Sun Dance. That's pretty cool.
The story line is a typical one for a B Western. A local town boss is buying up rancher land with the prospect of a railroad moving in, and lone holdout Bailey (John Hamilton) expects to be paid what his land is worth. Without much thought given to credibility by the writers, Bailey accepts what he believes to be fifteen thousand dollars for his property, then winds up with only fifteen hundred. Why he wouldn't have counted the money first before handing over the deed was another example of a sloppy plot contrivance to move the story along, and just a groaner if you're watching the picture as an adult instead of a matinée fan back in the day.
The film also missed an opportunity by showing what a crack shot Terry Moran was with a rifle, but then didn't use her skill to affect the outcome. Overall, the picture is a rather bland affair for Tim Holt's next to last Western. However the version shown on Encore Westerns last night, in their feature time slot at 8:00 PM, offered unusually crisp black and white photography to make the viewing experience quite enjoyable.
I'll finish with a bit of trivia, noting how magnificent Tim Holt's horse looked in the picture. He rode a number of different mounts in his movies, often a palomino named Lightning when teaming with Richard Martin. Winding down his career in Westerns, it looks as if the black horse he was riding in this picture was one called Sun Dance. That's pretty cool.
