Author Archive: Retro

Deacon Merrill (Ned Norton), a reformed bank robber, owns a dude ranch in Arizona. He was left in charge of the loot from a robbery in which the rest of the gang was caught and jailed. Two members of the old gang, Slim Griffith (Edward Biby) and Jimmy ‘Gabby’ Boggs (Eddie Davis), show up to claim the money. Slim kills Merrill and the blame is placed on ranch foreman Steve Madison (Edmund Cobb), fiancee of Merrill’s daughter June (Edna Aslin). Gang leader Butch (Jack Cheatham) and his moll, Trixie (Lois Glaze), also show up as ranch guests. Slim kidnaps June and heads for the border, followed by Steve on “Black King”, (the Horse With the Human Brain), followed by a posse after him.

When Hines kills the Colonel for his money, the Colorado Kid is arrested and then found guilt of the murder. Bibben beaks him out of jail and later identifies some of the bills spent by Hines to have been part of the money stolen from the Colonel. The Kid now knows he is the one he is after and heads out to get a confession.

“The Tioga Kid” is a remake of 1946’s “Driftin’ Kid” with only slight plot changes – hero Eddie Dean now has an identical twin brother working with the outlaws of stock from the original, all of the songs are recycled, most of the character names are the same, and the main difference is Jennifer Holt is now playing the role that Shirley Patterson had in “Driftin’ River” as “Jenny Morgan,” while most of the original cast – Dennis Moore, William Fawcett, Lee Bennett – are also here using the same character role names and, in some instances, the same footage. Eddie Dean and sidekick Soapy Jones return some stolen cattle (instead of horses) to Jenny Morgan, and Eddie runs off ranch hand Tucson Brown, who is working with the outlaws, led by Joe Morino, that includes Eddie’s (unknown to him) twin Clint Mason/The Tioga Kid. After Jenny sees a wanted poster that makes her think [...]

The Everetts, two brothers and a cousin are trying to make a go of their ranch in Kansas, but Deke Turner, someone who wants to see them fail, is doing everything he can to see that happen. The younger brother’s hero is Billy the Kid, and while during an argument with someone who works for Turner, he kills him in self-defense, but Turner makes it appear that he killed an unarmed man. He is then urged by his brother to run. When he is caught and is about to be brought back to Kansas to be hanged, his brother and cousin break him out, and now pegged as outlaws, they decide to get back at Turner by robbing him.

The Hawk has broken out of prison and the Sheriff and Sorrenson have a plan to have Whitlock pose as the Hawk, infiltrate the gang, and recover the stolen bonds. All goes well until The Chief who knows the real Hawk arrives.

A lawman poses as an outlaw, steals $10,000 from a cattle thief, then promises to return the money if he can join the gang–while finding a way to expose them.

A rodeo rider agrees to help an old rancher who’s been stealing his horses and murdered his nephew, so he goes undercover to expose the gang.

In the 19th and last of the PRC “Billy the Kid” series (first six with Bob Steele and last 13 with Buster Crabbe), a feud develops between the settlers and the railroad detectives in Red Rock Valley. Clem Barstow sends for Billy the Kid and Fuzzy Jones to help. Buster suspects that Ward Tragg, chief of the railroad detectives, and Luther Sharp, land agent for the Western Railroad Company, are defrauding the settlers without the knowledge or sanction of the company. Billy and the settlers rustle off cattle, which have been illegally confiscated by Tragg and his men, in order to raise money for Barstow to bid on a ranch which Sharp is illegally auctioning off. Billy discovers that the purchase price on the deed has been altered and Barstow writes the company to send a man to investigate. When Tragg learns about this, he makes plans to kidnap the railroad official.