Barbed Wire

One of Gene's later productions (1952), with same crew as filmed his TV series (1950-1955). Some great desert scenery as backdrop for lots of hard-riding. Also, lots of flying fists, even if some are less well staged than usual. Buttram does spots of comedy relief, but he's also more serious than usual as a rather inept government agent. Familiar old coot William Fawcett (Uncle John) gets bigger role than usual and is as grouchy as ever. Bad guy here (Rutledge) is one-armed land speculator who's plotting to block trail drives so he can get railroad rights. If the storyline sounds more complicated than usual, it is. And what's with poor leading lady Anne James. She acts as though she just swallowed a lemon—see if you can spot a smile anywhere in the 60-minutes. I couldn't. Anyway it all adds up to another worthy entry in Gene's matinée series, along with two great sing-along songs. But otherwise nothing special.

A "6" on the matinée scale.