Directed by Fred F. Sears
Produced by Colbert Clark
Screen Play by Victor Arthur
Based on a story by Bill Milligan
Director Of Photography: Fayte M. Browne
Film Editor: Paul Borofsky
Music by Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Cast: Charles Starrett (Steve Brandon/Durango Kid), Smiley Burnette (Smiley), Gloria Henry (Susan Atkins), William Bailey (Luke Atkins), Edgar Dearing (Capt. Dan Saunders), Raymond Bond (Jud Norton), Jock O’Mahoney (Sheriff Rob Saunders)
Pulled out Mill Creek’s two-disc The Durango Kid Collection again the other day. This time, it was Lightning Guns (1950).
Ranchers in Piute Valley are fighting over water and the building of a dam, and Steve Brandon (Charles Starrett) and Smiley ride right in the middle of it all. A local banker, who was going to approve a loan to get the dam built, is murdered and soon sheriff Jock O’Mahoney has to arrest his own father.
Steve and Smiley (and Durango) sort it out, revealing that the local grocer is the murderer. There’s a lot of riding and shooting, and a cool thread involving a rare .41 caliber pistol — and Smiley is a traveling bathtub salesman, logging a heavy tub from scene to scene.
Gloria Henry did Lightning Guns between a couple of key Western pictures — Strawberry Roan (1948) with Gene Autry and Fritz Lang’s Rancho Notorious (1952). Jock Mahoney (billed here as O’Mahoney) had been doubling for Charles Starrett on the series and was making the transition to actor. He acted in a number of the later ones.
The Durango Kid is cool, but he never really seems to fit in his own films. For one thing, it’s hard to fathom how Starrett can travel from town with two horses (Steve’s Bullet and Durango’s Raider) without getting found out. I loved these films as a kid, but always wondered how he pulled it all off.
Fred F. Sears worked as a character actor and dialogue director on the series before climbing into the director’s chair. Here, he keeps things moving at a quick pace and handles Smiley Burnette’s comedic scenes well. Smiley’s stuff seems a bit intrusive (or tacked on) in some of these pictures.
From 1945 to 1952, Columbia, Starrett, Smiley and crew (including directors Sears and Ray Navarro) worked at a frantic pace, making a total of 64 Durango Kid pictures. Lightning Guns is one of the 10 movies in Mill Creek’s budget-friendly set, The Durango Kid Collection. The transfer looks wonderful. It’s a nice little set, and it comes highly recommended. (Wish they’d get around to a volume two!)
Mill Creek has come through with some terrific multi-picture sets over the last few years. They’re often made up of Columbia pictures — with sets dedicated to William Castle, The Whistler, Jungle Jim, Randolph Scott, Hammer Films and more. (Some are released through Critic’s Choice.) Many of the titles have been available singly or as MOD releases, but the prices can’t be beat, and they’ll save you space as we watch our collections gobble up our real estate.
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