I picked up this little movie off ebay from "Memory Lane" out of curiosity, and am glad I did. "Thundering Thompson" is a deputy sheriff brought from the county seat by nefarious Bill Edwards (Al Ferguson) to arrest a young woman, Marie Valerian (Neva Gerber) and her father, who are running sheep on land that Edwards covets. "Cheyenne Bill" is a fine-looking young man who fits the part of the stalwart deputy well. He goes to visit the sheepherder, and of course is smitten by the lovely daughter, but also learns that the motives of the cattlemen are not quite what they seem to be. Edwards had the warrant sworn out against Marie to pressure the old man to sell his sheep to him.
Returning to town, Thompson tears up the warrant, then is goaded into a fight when one of Edwards' men deliberately tosses in an insult about Marie. He is ganged up on and beaten unconscious by the cowboys, but only after giving a splendid account of himself against great odds. A "colored man" (unfortunately, a white man in black-face) helps Thompson by later informing him that the ranchers are going to raid the sheepherders to drive them off the prize land.
Thompson tracks down the raiders, by ones and twos, and dissuades them from carrying out the foray. He finally runs down Edwards, and the two engage in a great fight, another pursuit, and another fight, ending in a shallow river. As often was the case in these early movies, the actors do the fighting, not stuntmen. They do a super job, though perhaps less well choreographed than fights in later films. I don't think I've ever seen a scissors-lock applied during a cowboy fight! The deputy gets his man, and gets his girl.
This is a nice little movie, with many of the standard plot lines, yet filled with excellent action scenes. Cheyenne Bill was an athletic actor with a fine presence. Obviously not much is known about him, and he made relatively few movies. Too bad more of them aren't available now.
Returning to town, Thompson tears up the warrant, then is goaded into a fight when one of Edwards' men deliberately tosses in an insult about Marie. He is ganged up on and beaten unconscious by the cowboys, but only after giving a splendid account of himself against great odds. A "colored man" (unfortunately, a white man in black-face) helps Thompson by later informing him that the ranchers are going to raid the sheepherders to drive them off the prize land.
Thompson tracks down the raiders, by ones and twos, and dissuades them from carrying out the foray. He finally runs down Edwards, and the two engage in a great fight, another pursuit, and another fight, ending in a shallow river. As often was the case in these early movies, the actors do the fighting, not stuntmen. They do a super job, though perhaps less well choreographed than fights in later films. I don't think I've ever seen a scissors-lock applied during a cowboy fight! The deputy gets his man, and gets his girl.
This is a nice little movie, with many of the standard plot lines, yet filled with excellent action scenes. Cheyenne Bill was an athletic actor with a fine presence. Obviously not much is known about him, and he made relatively few movies. Too bad more of them aren't available now.