This is not a terrible film, but it certainly doesn't elevate itself above the plethora of B-westerns made in the 1930s-50s. A bazillion such movies were made and this Johnny Mack Brown movie just didn't do much to distinguish itself.
The movie begins with a HUGE cliché. The Sheriff is set to announce the identity of some upstanding citizen who is in fact the leader of some baddies. The problem is that you KNOW that this means the Sheriff will die before he announces the leader's identity--and so when he dies you are bound to have a sense of déjà vu! And so it's up to the lawman, Brown, to investigate. However, when he DOES identify the guy (and it's obvious who it is to the viewers), many in the town, inexplicably, gang up on Brown--who is a US Marshall!! This makes no sense, but neither does the character Ortego--the world's worst henchman. Why the boss would trust this idiot is beyond me. What is also beyond me is how quickly Brown's girl turns on him--and then later turns to him!! Her fickleness is baffling--and the ending just made my head hurt!!! Overall, it's a very ordinary sort of film with a somewhat charismatic leading man and lots of plot difficulties. See it if you want, but there are certainly many better B-westerns out there waiting to be seen.
The movie begins with a HUGE cliché. The Sheriff is set to announce the identity of some upstanding citizen who is in fact the leader of some baddies. The problem is that you KNOW that this means the Sheriff will die before he announces the leader's identity--and so when he dies you are bound to have a sense of déjà vu! And so it's up to the lawman, Brown, to investigate. However, when he DOES identify the guy (and it's obvious who it is to the viewers), many in the town, inexplicably, gang up on Brown--who is a US Marshall!! This makes no sense, but neither does the character Ortego--the world's worst henchman. Why the boss would trust this idiot is beyond me. What is also beyond me is how quickly Brown's girl turns on him--and then later turns to him!! Her fickleness is baffling--and the ending just made my head hurt!!! Overall, it's a very ordinary sort of film with a somewhat charismatic leading man and lots of plot difficulties. See it if you want, but there are certainly many better B-westerns out there waiting to be seen.