I watched two B Westerns on the Encore Channel this morning and one was dumber than the other. Both featured Al "Fuzzy" St. John in classic sidekick roles; here he was paired with the athletic Buster Crabbe. Now calling these flicks 'dumb' should in no way give you the idea I don't like them. I'll watch these oaters until I've seen every one, which will take forever, so you know I have a certain fondness for this kind of stuff. But just to give you an example, during a shoot-out with the good guys, outlaw Charles King says to his partner Emery (Jack O'Shea) - "You hold 'em off while I get away"! Really!?!?
Anyway, even though Buster Crabbe is top billed here as the nominal hero, it's actually Fuzzy who gets most of the screen time in a role in which he communicates with the spirit of a dead Indian named Standing Pine. I thought that was pretty original, but the idea that it was really bad guy Emery talking through an ersatz phone contraption from the very next room behind Fuzzy, well that just defied all credibility. I know these flicks were made for a young matinée audience back in the day, but boy, could kids have been that naive even in the Forties?
So the gimmick has Fuzzy taking instruction from Standing Pine and using the knowledge to make a fifty thousand dollar land purchase where he believes he'll strike it rich in gold. Fuzzy brings in the local ranchers as fellow investors, who have seen his psychic skills at work with prior predictions that have come true. The only one to see through this charade is the venerable Billy Carson (Crabbe), and he does what he needs to in order to smoke out the bad guys. I got a kick out of the way Carson got bad guy Dayton (John L. Cason) to spill the beans on his partners - he slapped him once in the face! Talk about your cruel and unusual interrogation methods!
Appropriately, I guess, the name of the town where all this happens is called Showdown Flats. Carson pulls Fuzzy's fat out of the fire once more in one of your more comical B Westerns and it's entertaining enough. As usual you have your interminable horse chase scenes used as filler, and another reviewer here correctly comments on the riders covering the same ground back and forth. One notation I might make which I couldn't have done if I hadn't just finished reading 'Son of the Morning Star' - in the opening scene Fuzzy conjures up the names of Geronimo and Sitting Bull as potential spirit guides, along with that of Rain-in-the Face. For many years following General George Armstrong Custer's death at the Battle of Little Big Horn, many people believed that the Indian who killed him was a chief named Rain-in-the-Face. I had never heard of him before, but here the name shows up in a Buster Crabbe flick. You just never know.
Anyway, even though Buster Crabbe is top billed here as the nominal hero, it's actually Fuzzy who gets most of the screen time in a role in which he communicates with the spirit of a dead Indian named Standing Pine. I thought that was pretty original, but the idea that it was really bad guy Emery talking through an ersatz phone contraption from the very next room behind Fuzzy, well that just defied all credibility. I know these flicks were made for a young matinée audience back in the day, but boy, could kids have been that naive even in the Forties?
So the gimmick has Fuzzy taking instruction from Standing Pine and using the knowledge to make a fifty thousand dollar land purchase where he believes he'll strike it rich in gold. Fuzzy brings in the local ranchers as fellow investors, who have seen his psychic skills at work with prior predictions that have come true. The only one to see through this charade is the venerable Billy Carson (Crabbe), and he does what he needs to in order to smoke out the bad guys. I got a kick out of the way Carson got bad guy Dayton (John L. Cason) to spill the beans on his partners - he slapped him once in the face! Talk about your cruel and unusual interrogation methods!
Appropriately, I guess, the name of the town where all this happens is called Showdown Flats. Carson pulls Fuzzy's fat out of the fire once more in one of your more comical B Westerns and it's entertaining enough. As usual you have your interminable horse chase scenes used as filler, and another reviewer here correctly comments on the riders covering the same ground back and forth. One notation I might make which I couldn't have done if I hadn't just finished reading 'Son of the Morning Star' - in the opening scene Fuzzy conjures up the names of Geronimo and Sitting Bull as potential spirit guides, along with that of Rain-in-the Face. For many years following General George Armstrong Custer's death at the Battle of Little Big Horn, many people believed that the Indian who killed him was a chief named Rain-in-the-Face. I had never heard of him before, but here the name shows up in a Buster Crabbe flick. You just never know.