Flashing Guns (1947) User Reviews

Johnny Mack???....Really?

[bsmith5552 · 5/10 · 24 February 2017]

"Flashing Guns" in spite of it's promising title, is a bit of a yawner. It lacks colorful bad guys the likes of Charlie King or Dick Curtis and doesn't have a single fist fight unusual for a series western). There is no boy/girl relationship and stars Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton do not play hero/sidekick.

Hatton plays a rancher Amos Shelby who is about to lose his seedy looking ranch to crooked banker Ainsworth. He sends his son Freddie (Riley Hill) to town to inform Ainsworth that his father's note will be paid on time. But it seems that Freddie has a gambling debt. Saloon owner Longdon (Douglas Evens) arranges to have Freddie's sister Ann (Jan Bryant) robbed of the cash she is bringing from an out of town bank to pay of her father's debt.

But just at that very moment Johnny Mack (Brown) comes along to help the young girl. Meanwhile, Freddie is lured into a poker game by gambler Ripley (believe it or not) where he loses the rest of his father's money. Johnny arrives to help and recovers the money.

It seems that high grade silver has been discovered on Shelby's land. Ainsworth has Longdon forge Shelby's signature on Shelby's note showing the due date as having passed. The rest of the movie has Johnny trying to save the ranch and straighten Freddie out. There are a couple of "flashing gun" battles that follow until the criminals are brought to justice and everybody lives happily ever after.

Again, I found the villains to be a dull bunch. Competent western veterans Edmund Cobb (the sheriff) and Steve Clark (Cannon) who are in the cast, would have made more formidable bad guys. And Norman Jolley who plays Mike Foley Johnny's pal doesn't even have a line. And how about Brown's character's name....Johnny Mack.....Really?

Brown made better westerns -Spoiler

[horn-5 · 9 December 2009]

Quite possibly the dullest of all the films in the Monogram series with Johnny Mack Brown and Raymond Hatton, with Hatton in a role normally played by the likes of character actors Steve Clark or Frank LaRue, and excessive footage given to Riley Hill, always capable of bringing a scene to a grinding halt. Rancher Amos Shelby (Raymond Hatton)has one day left to pay off a loan on his ranch, and sends son Freddie (Riley Hill) to tell banker Ainsworth (James E. Logan)that it will be paid on time. Freddie is forced to reveal to gambler Ripley (Ted Adams), to whom he is in debt, that his sister Ann (Jan Bryant)is bringing the money from Silana. Ripley's henchmen waylay the girl and she is rescued by Johnny Mack (Johnny Mack Brown). Ainsworth has Longden (Douglas Evans)forge old man Shelby's signature to predated papers. Johnny gets Shelby's money back from Ripley and kills the gambler gambler when he attempts to take it away from Freddie. Ainsworth informs Amos he is too late to pay his loan and shows him the forged papers. Amos kills one of Longden's henchmen when the gang tries to take over the ranch. Judge Pool (Frank LaRue) sets him free of the murder charge but gives him three days to clear the ranch. Johnny discovers that Ainsworth is after ore he knows is on the ranch property. Henchman Sagebrush (Jack O'Shea) is captured by a ruse, and reveals Ainsworth's plot to Johnny. Freddie is saved from a posse after he robs the bank of a poster revealing Longdon to be a forger. Ainsworth and the gang is captured by Johnny, and Amos recovers his ranch. Written by Les Adams {[e-mail]}