Monday, August 26, 2013

Billy the Kid in Texas (1940)/The Kid Rides Again (1943)/Cattle Stampede (1943)/Rustler's Hideout (1945)

  Billy (Bob Steele) and Fuzzy (Al St. John) arrive in Corral City, Texas after hearing that the town has no lawman.  It's true but the town is also run by the Lazy 8 Gang of roustabouts.  Billy takes on the job of Sheriff in order to protect the innocent townsfolk.

  After being thrown in jail for robbery, Billy (Buster Crabbe) escapes in order to find the true culprits.  He finds the town of Sundown under the thumb of the Slade Brothers.  Mort Slade (I. Stanford Jolley) is systematically driving the settlers off their land by buying mortgages, foreclosing, and then turning the properties around.  The only thing standing in his way is bank manager John Ainsley (Ed Peil, Sr.). 

  Billy (Buster Crabbe) and Fuzzy (Al St. John) pitch in to help a wounded colleague's family drive their cattle to market.  Once again, there's a greedy son of a bitch (Glenn Strange) who is trying to take over all the cattle in the region by having his henchman (Charles King) stampede the cows on the trail. 

And it's over.  Does it even matter what this one was about?  Blah blah Billy the Kid blah blah Fuzzy blah blah framed for something they didn't do blah blah. 

This set could have been way better if any attention had been paid to preserving and restoring these films.  I'm not saying that they changed the history of cinema, but serial Westerns were huge back in the 40s and 50s.  I just think that if you're going to take the time to drag these from the vaults of nostalgia, do it right.  Give them a makeover.  Fix the sound.  Make them something worth watching.

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