Bad Man from Red Butte

It will help to enjoy and appreciate "Bad Man from Red Butte" if one is already a fan of B-westerns, for the many coincidental chance meetings and not-fully explained relationships can only be accepted if one comes from a place of patient tolerance. The story is fun and is one which allows Johnny Mack Brown to play two parts, one bad (more or less) and one good. There are films of the genre which are anachronistically set in contemporary times, but this one is not clear on that score, not sure whether intentional or not... almost everything points to 1880 or so, but there are scenes here where the town's womenfolk are out and about wobbling along the town's dirt main street and on raised wooden sidewalks in high heels and other fine garb of 1940. Like I say, one must be tolerant. This is a minor movie to be sure, but the many interesting faces and characters make it a fun parade nonetheless. Prolific bad man Roy Barcroft appears in one of his relatively early western villain roles, showing off a fairly slender self! One somewhat unusual element is that JMB has two what could be called sidekicks, one played fairly straight (in the talent of Bob Baker), who really doesn't do much, and the other being a more comedy reliever type (Fuzzy Knight). The film is structurally well-put together, however, and if one just lets it flow without thinking too much it will probably be an enjoyable ride.

In the late 30s and into the 40s, the western 'trio' films were popular. What this meant is that to keep up with the mega-stars of Bs (such as Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Hapalong Cassidy), studios took several second-tier western stars and packaged them as trios...such as The Three Mesquiteers, The Range Busters and the Texas Rangers. So, it's not all that surprising that Universal also tried this with Johnny Mack Brown....giving him not only a sidekick (Fuzzy Knight) but a handsome singing friend (Bob Baker) to round out the trio. Now considering most of Brown's films of this era didn't feature a trio, it seems that such a formula wasn't all that successful with his films.

Part of the plot to "Bad Man from Red Butte" is a very contrived and silly one. It seems that Gils is an evil outlaw and he has an identical twin, Buck (both are played by Brown). When Buck comes to a new town to settle with his two friends, folks there assume he's Gils...and are scared of him because of Gils' evil reputation. But the local evil boss, Benson, is confused...why would Gils get into a fist fight with him? And, why would he suddenly be on the side of law and order?

However, when the film DIDN'T focus on the 'evil twin', it was MUCH better and more interesting...though the local baddie trying to control the town IS a very familiar trope. Enjoyable...but silly due to the twins angle...and it would have at least been a BIT better had the evil twin had an evil twin goatee instead of a boring 5 o'clock shadow!

By the way, the women in this film are all dressed in fashions and hairstyles circa 1940...and the men look more like cowboys. I have no idea why they did this other than laziness.

In the last of six Universal westerns with Johnny Mack Brown and sidekicks Bob Baker and Fuzzy Knight, they ride into town. Baker wants to hang up his lawyer's shingle, Knight to open a store, and Brown is taken by people who mistake him for his identical twin brother, who's helping the bad guy try to take over a ranch.

Yes, it's the old identical tin plot. I've noted before that every long-running B series did it at least once, and Good Guy Brown is taken prisoner and forced to stand trial. Fortunately there's a deus ex machina ending that settles things before the one-hour mark. There's Anne Gwynne as the love interest, the usual background players in westerns, and director Ray Taylor keeps things moving along, with three musical number, and a nice stunt gag in which Our Hero or his double leaves a running horse to jump onto a moving stage coach and grab the reins once the teamster has been shot.

In the heart of the Wild West, a mysterious cowboy rides into a small town and is mistaken for his notorious twin brother, wanted for murder. As accusations fly, he must navigate a treacherous path to clear his name and get the varmint who framed him for killing an old rancher.

Johnny Mack Brown plays "twin" again in this snappy western that has a strong plot fitted with enough humour, action and villainous schemes. Fuzzy Knight lends the humour with his magic hair tonic (wish I could have one of those!), Bob Baker is a singing lawyer and Anne Gwyne adds glamour as a schoolteacher. There's a good line when one of the main villain's crooked lawyer (Earle Hodgins) is ordered by Brown to get out of town and to keep riding to Death Valley, and the lawyer replies, "That's illegal," and Brown replies, "well you'll be right at home."

In Bad Man From Red Butte Johnny Mack Brown plays the dual role of surveyor and gunfighter. The surveyor carries the knowledge that he has a twin brother who is a notorious gunman as a deep dark secret. It only comes out after surveyor Brown is accused of killing rancher Lafe McKee. Of course the killing was ordered by the real villain of the story Norman Willis.

Surveyor Brown arrives with his sidekicks, Bob Baker who is a singing lawyer and has plans to hang up a shingle and practice law. But he's soon involved in the politics of the town. Good thing he's a cowboy singer, he brings his own entertainment to rallies. There's also Fuzzy Knight who is his own entertainment and he's looking to sell hair tonic with a kick to it.

The action keeps nicely moving in this Johnny Mack Brown western. Fans of the B western should be pleased.