The Return of the Durango Kid (1945)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Derwin Abrahams

Writer:

J. Benton Cheney (original screenplay)

Release Date:

19 April 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Music | Western

Tagline:

GALLOP TO GLORY WITH A GREAT NEW HERO...ROBIN HOOD OF THE RANGE! (original poster - all caps)

Plot:

It is Texas in 1875 and Kirby's gang continues to rob the stage. But now, the Durango Kid, robs Kirby's gang and returns the money to Mrs...

Plot Keywords:

Durango Kid | Frame Up | Investigation | Texas | Cigarette Smoking

Cast

Charles Starrett	...	Bill Blayden / The Durango Kid
Tex Harding	...	Jim Gill
Jean Stevens	...	Paradise Flo
John Calvert	...	Leland 'Lee' Kirby
The Jesters	...	Musicians

Also Known As:

Stolen Time (UK)

Runtime:

58 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:Approved (PCA #10235)

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Warner Bros. Ranch - 411 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Soundtrack:

He Holds the Lantern

The Original Man In Black

As the name implies, 1945's "The Return of the Durango Kid" marks the second appearance of Charles Starrett as a wandering cowboy whose alter ego is known as "The Durango Kid" (also the title of his first film appearance in 1940). Thus begins what at the time must have seemed an endless series of Durango Kid films lasting into the early 50's. It was a confusing concept because Starrett's non-Durango character always goes by a different name, usually Steve "Something" but here it is Bill Blaydon.

Blaydon comes to a small town in 1875 Texas in a quest to clear his dead father's name. His father was the first Durango Kid although none of this stuff seems to tie into the 1940 story. It turns out that saloon owner Lee Kirby (John Calvert) is the one who framed Bill's father, and his gang is now regularly robbing the stage line. The woman who holds the stage line franchise is "Buckskin" Liz Bancroft (played by perennial B-movie prison matron Betty Roadman). She is in danger of losing the line if the hold-ups continue.

Bill's love interest is provided by the standard" saloon girl with a heart-of-gold", Paradise Flo (Jean Stevens) who is kinda purdy.

Because Bill (dressed in a light colored shirt and white hat) is a fair hand with a gun and the gang does not know he is the Kid (who dresses in a black shirt and hat), he is able to bluff them into leaving town by convincing them both gunfighters oppose them.

1945 was the heart of the singing cowboy era; apparently Starrett could not carry a tune because the singing is provided by a group of cowboys called "The Jesters", a knock off of "The Sons of the Pioneers". Some of their song lyrics are funny and these moments of comic relief are inserted in the film at completely inappropriate times, giving it all a surreal quality.

This was a pretty expensive and elaborate effort for a Columbia western and is better than you might expect. The gunfights are rather weak but otherwise Starrett makes a good western hero.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.