The Bandit Trail

From a story by Arthur T. Horman, the screenplay by Norton S. Parker gives us, without being blatant or obvious, an unusual opening that summarizes the reason for the upcoming action.

A rancher's brother is battling the sheriff who is coming to foreclose (shades of today's economy!) but the rancher himself puts a stop to the shooting. His son, played by Tim Holt, is returning home and the rancher wants peace for his arrival.

The brother-uncle is played by Morris Ankrum, more often, too often, relegated to being a with but here in a pivotal role that showed he should have been given more bigger parts.

His partner in the shooting is "Whopper," a name over-used in Tim Holt westerns, and here played by Lee "Lasses" White, a very capable actor but given some pretty lousy lines. As is also unfortunately common in Tim Holt westerns, the "humor" isn't funny.

However, the story is a good one, and, with the great Roy Barcroft and the great Glenn Strange, it is well presented, and thus overall "The Bandit Trail" is worth watching.

If you are a western fan, be sure to see this one. It has a good story, is well-directed at a good pace. At this point in his career, Tim Holt had charisma and was a perfect choice for western movies. He is into what he is doing here and doesn't appear to approach this as just another formula production to be cranked out (sometimes later in his career he approached his endless series of western roles in a formula manner).

Roy Barcroft is fine of course as a rotten businessman. Versatile movie veteran Morris Ankrum is excellent as Holt's uncle "Red", who keeps applying the tension to an underlying storyline throughout the entire movie. In fact the whole movie is better written and more layered than you might expect for an ordinary B western of this era.

Perfect casting of female lead, sidekick, the Sheriffs, and all characters contribute to this watchable, solidly made yarn.

The Sheriff has come to foreclose on Red Haggerty's ranch on banker Andrew Grant's behalf. Red's brother Tom Haggerty steps in to stop the gunfight and dies in the process. Red pushes Tom's son Steve Haggerty (Tim Holt) into robbing the bank for revenge. Steve goes to deposit some $20k in order to infiltrate the next town. Banker's daughter Ellen Grant (Janet Waldo) takes a liking to him. He becomes so respected that he becomes the town's new marshal. Saloon owner Joel Nesbitt turns out to be the big crook.

This is a fine B-western. The story is interesting. There are some bits that are a little confused. Playing both sides will do that sometimes. Whopper doing comedy does not always fit the tone. At least, I'm drawn to the story.

Complex Holt western with lots of hard riding and fast shooting, but no flying fists. Locations are mainly from familiar LA area scrublands. The plot's a layered one, involving several gangs and different degrees of bad-good guys. Holt starts out as bank robber stealing what he and brother Ankrum believe is their money defrauded from them by a bank. This leads to a series of encounters whose shifting details I leave to other reviewers.

Though Lasses White supplies humorous episodes, there's not the lighter tone of the later Chito- Holt entries. It's a fine cast of baddies, including toughie Roy Barcroft in a suit no less, and commanding Morris Ankrum who later saves the universe in 50's sci-fi. But pity poor Janet Waldo of radio fame. When not standing around nicely dressed, she gets all of one close-up, at movie's end. Oh well, there was always Corliss Archer on the radio dial.

All in all, having hero Holt undergo some value changes is unusual for an oater, and is the hour's main point of interest. (And see if you agree, Holt looks like a young Roy Rogers here.) Anyway, it's a well-cast and acted western if a somewhat complicated plot.

The Bandit Trail casts Tim Holt as a young man who loses his father Eddy Waller to a gun battle between his family and the law representing the town banker who has taken over the family ranch. When Holt arrives from the east, his uncle Morris Ankrum persuades him to join in robbing that selfsame bank.

After they flee the territory the newly minted outlaws decide to rob this other town where boss Roy Barcroft rules. The plan is for Tim to take the loot from the previous robbery and deposit it in this town bank to win the confidence of the people in the town that he is has the makings of a solid and prosperous citizen as he surveys the lay of the land.

Unfortunately Tim does become a solid and prosperous citizen, so much so that he gets made town marshal after helping out the original marshal in a blazing gun battle with road agents. Holt also starts falling for Janet Waldo, daughter of the new town banker.

The Bandit Trail which Tim Holt is trying not to be on is a nice well played western with believable characters and a good story.