Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

When a gambler known as "The Abilene Kid" is tried, convicted and hung for the apparent robbery of the U.S. Gold mint, his spirit seems to return from beyond to haunt and ultimately kill the men who framed him. Everybody in this small western town is running scared, and it is up to a U.S. agent (James Millican) to get to the bottom of this with the help of the local sheriff (Victor Kilian) and his pretty niece (Mary Beth Hughes) who falls in love with him. The slow-moving first half of this rather short B western moves into quite a different mood as it changes to ghost story. Or is it? Like Scooby Doo and other ghost movie spoofs where somebody is obviously using the events of the recent past to get information on the location of the gold. But who is it, and how does the U.S. agent discover the identity? Or is it really a voice from beyond scaring people literally to their doom? This western has various elements of its structure which makes it a rank above the standard cowboy/Indian shoot em' out, but the plot is pretty obvious of where it is going. The photography in the ghostly visits is appropriately dark which adds much needed mood. In spite of obvious plot holes, the film remains an interesting change from the typical western fare audiences were getting at the time. George Cleveland provides some wit as a local judge, while some cornball humor is thrown in by Fuzzy Knight. Another plus with the DVD is the print transfer is quite outstanding, making it look much higher budgeted than many of the public domain transfers of B westerns from Monogram, PRC and other poverty row studios which released dozens of these every year.

"Rimfire" is an odd western for several reasons. First, the film really has no stars in it--just lots and lots of B and C-list supporting actors. Second, the plot itself is rather diffuse and meandering. This doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad film--just not exactly typical.The film starts with an aborted stage coach robbery and it sure looks as if the film is about an evil boss-man in town whose lackeys are committing the robberies. Well, it ISN'T about this--though the first portion of the film is. The Abilene Kid is a gambler who is accused of using marked cards. In a VERY unlawful sort of hearing, the guy is railroaded and hung. Then the weird stuff begins--those responsible for the handing out this injustice are killed off one after another--with a playing card left with their corpses. You'd think the film is about some sort of ghost--but it turns out not to be. Then, out of the blue, a shipment of stolen United States gold is discovered around the same time the killer is discovered--leading the viewer to wonder exactly what was the film about, anyway?! The bottom line is that this is not even a B-western--it's more of a C-western with poor writing and an odd assortment of minor actors. Not terrible...but also not very good.

If I was writing the script of Rimfire I might have taken this story in an entirely different direction. I think the film had a lot of potential. When first looking at it I was thinking it might be a harbinger of what Clint Eastwood did in High Plains Drifter. If you remember Clint is an other world figure who exacts a terrible vengeance on everyone in his film.Here Reed Hadley is a luckless gambler the Abilene Kid who gets himself nicely framed for a gold robbery and murder after first being falsely accused of card cheating. After that a whole lot of people start dying and their left with playing cards near the body. The spade suit is used and it goes right into the picture cards.James Millican who is normally a good character actor is the lead here along with Hadley and he never believed Hadley was guilty. He's an army captain on detached duty for the Secret Service and sheriff Victor Killian makes him a deputy.The ending is rather strange and disjointed as well. I will say a good red herring is given as the leader of the gang, but the final showdown left a lot to be desired.Rimfire is interesting and certainly has its supporters, but I think it fails in the execution.

"Rimfire" is an almost forgotten little gem of a western. In fact, I hadn't heard of it until it's recent DVD release. It was produced by the Lippert Company and directed by the veteran B. Reeves Easton. Easton had been around films since 1915 and this was his final directorial effort. Running at a scant 63 minutes it boasts a fairly large cast of recognizable western players and contains an interesting story line.Tom Harvey (James Millican) foils a stagecoach holdup and comes into town and takes a job as a deputy sheriff. Heroine Polly Jordan (Mary Beth Hughes, who was on the coach turns out to be the niece of the town sheriff Jim Jordan (Victor Kilian). Harvey confides int the sheriff that he is in fact an under cover army officer in search of some stolen government bullion. Harvey and Polly meanwhile, become attracted to each other.Gambler, The Abilene Kid (Reed Hadley) who had also been on the coach, is falsely framed for cheating in a card game by saloon owner Barney Bernard (Ray Bennett) and his two henchmen Blazer (John Cason) and Toad (I. Stanford Jolley). Harvey believes in the Kid's innocence but is unable to prove it. In a trial Bernard and his two henchmen testify against him and Judge Gardner (George Cleveland) finds him guilty and sentences him to hang.Following the Kid's execution, several of the Kid's accusers begin to be murdered by a ghostly figure believed by some to be the ghost of the Kid. A playing card in sequential order is found at the scene of each murder leading all to believe that the Kid is somehow involved. Finally Harvey discovers the identity of the murderer and.............This was a rare opportunity for veteran character actor Millican to play the lead and romance the heroine. He had been around films since the early 1930s but is probably best remembered for his western roles (on both sides of the law) and for his distinctive speaking voice. His career was cut short by an early death in 1955 at the age of 45.Others in the cast include Fuzzy Knight and Chris-Pin Martin as the comic relief, Henry Hull as newspaper editor Nathanial (Horace??) Greeley, Glenn Strange as the stagecoach driver and Margia Dean as Lolita a saloon girl.Take a look at this one if you get the chance.