The Feud Maker

Lloyd Ingraham fetches Bob Steele back to his ranch. It seems the ranchers and nesters are at the point of war. Bob rides in and finds Karl Hackett playing both sides against each other. They know each other from old days and he makes Bob an offer, which Bob turns down...and barely escapes with his life. When he rides to his uncle's ranch, he finds the old man is dead, it's his ranch and they're about to go and string up nesters Frank Ball and his pretty daughter, Marion Weldon. When Bob stops them, they all quit, except for loyal old Budd Buster.

It's a well set up story, even if it's sometimes confusing to see the same actor turning up on the other side of the feud wearing different clothes; Republic sure knew how to save money. I also wonder about the horses. It's been a few decades since I rode, but everyone on horseback gallops everywhere in this movie, stops dead, and leaves the horse just standing about, occasionally next to a watering trough, which the beast calmly ignores. I never saw a horse behave that way. It's more likely to drop down dead.

Still, it's a good story, briskly told and satisfactory for a B western, if no great shakes.