Very well executed

Masterful Movie

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

One of the later B westerns in the 'Billy the Kid' series, in the early to mid ''40s, starring Buster Crabbe as Billy and Al St. John as his partner Fuzzy. Actually, in this episode, they don't work together that much. Fuzzy spends time in jail on a murder charge. Also, Fuzzy is testy about Billy following him around and asking questions. He has a secrete scheme he doesn't want Billy or others to know about. Otherwise, this is a pretty standard story for a B western, with the usual gang leader((Vic Landreau, in this case) a prominent citizen of the community, but a snake in the grass, who wants more money and power, in this case, by taking over the Barkley's ranch by having his men rustle their cattle, then loaning them money to make up for the loss, with their ranch put up for security. ......Landreau has a special reason for wanting the Barkley's ranch. In fact, it's the same reason Fuzzy hopes to buy a piece of it. That's his secret agenda. Neither got anywhere trying to buy even a piece of the ranch. They had heard a rumor that the railroad wanted to build a line through the nearby Devil's Gap, and hoped to profit from the railroad's need for adjacent land.(Whether Barkley knew about this is left open). Soon, things are looking bad for young Jean Barkley. Her father is murdered and the money he had with him to pay off the lien was stolen. As Billy observed, the only 2 people, outside of the Barkleys, who knew he had that money with him , were Landreau and himself, but how to prove that he or his henchmen committed these crimes? Fuzzy was in jail as the suspected murderer, although he didn't have the money on him when apprehended. However, Billy has an idea how to prove that Landreau was behind the theft, and thus presumably the murder. Billy knew the stolen money was the money he had just given Barkley in payment for a cattle herd. Billy had been nicked on the finger from a bullet during a stagecoach holdup earlier that day. Some blood had gotten on some of the bills. Now, he had to figure out how to get to that money soon, before Landreau spent it. It was probably in his land office safe. But, how get a look in there without resorting to burglary? I'll leave that resolution to your viewing. The film is available free at YouTube. .......Note: the prior reviewer correctly stated that the word 'hoodoo', used several times, means bad luck or jinxed , in this context. Actually, it's merely a variant of the word 'voodoo'.........If, in one of his B westerns, John Wayne had saved Jean's ranch from the grasping badman, after the said badman had killed her father, he would likely have gotten a kiss or hug at the end, perhaps with the suggestion that he might be tempted to stay on as her new man. But, thus far, I haven't seen any hint of serious romantic interest between Billy and the damsels he saved. Kinda disappointing.

I'll never get over how more than a few of these B Westerns from the Thirties and Forties employed just the goofiest of elements as part of the story line. Case in point - when one of Landreau's (Jack O'Shea) henchmen inadvertently opens Fuzzy Jones' (Fuzzy St. John) jail cell door while freeing his fellow outlaws Cherokee (Frank Ellis) and Tug (Al Ferguson), he decks Fuzzy and makes off with his buddies. When the sheriff (Bud Osborne) and Billy (Buster Crabbe) return, they see a groggy Fuzzy looking like he knocked out the deputy, so the sheriff hustles him back to jail. But when he sees the outlaws missing, he just leaves Fuzzy standing there and heads out with Billy again. Fuzzy decides he'll just go back in the jail cell and close the door. Now what writer thought that was a credible idea, I'd just like to know.Oh well. this isn't the only time something totally incomprehensible showed up in a B oater. I run across them all the time. But here's another head scratcher from the same picture. At one point, the sheriff and Billy Carson discuss the 'hoodoo' on the Barkley ranch, with Billy stating he was going to 'break that hoodoo'. I guess modern day viewers are supposed to know that hoodoo is another name for bad luck, but I wouldn't have known unless I looked it up. At least the flick was educational.Well it's one of those same old stories - bad guy Landreau wants the Barkley Ranch and is about to foreclose on the mortgage when Jeff Barkley (Slim Whitaker) comes into some cash and is about to pay off the note. He's killed while riding into town by Landreau's henchmen and the murder is pinned on Fuzzy. Fuzzy just couldn't catch a break in this picture. Back in town, Jean Barkley (Patti McCarthy) visits Landreau with an offer to sell the ranch now that her father is dead. Now here'a another one of those nonsensical details again - Landreau pulls a piece of paper out of his desk drawer, calls it a quit claim deed, and asks her to sign it. Just like that! No terms, no selling price, no witnesses - just sign the paper! If you get the idea these things bother me, forget it. When it comes to B Westerns, I can watch this stuff all day long, as long as you rotate the players. Buster Crabbe makes for a resolute good guy who doesn't take himself too seriously as he figures out all the angles and brings the baddies to justice. The kicker for this film was hearing the name of the Barkley Ranch, a few decades before Barbara Stanwyck rode into the Big Valley to call it her own.