Jim Diehl | Through the Shattered Lens

After spending the past few years cleaning up the west, Steve Leary (Charles Starrett) rides into the town of Red Mound and says that he is ready to buy a ranch and settle down. What Steve finds is an unfriendly town that is divided between law-abiding citizens on one side and cattle rustlers on the other. The cattle rustlers want to prevent Steve from purchasing the old Atkins ranch and they’ll do anything to keep the deed from being signed over. It’s a good thing that Steve also happens to be the legendary Durango Kid.

This is a standard entry in the Durango Kid series. To me, it’s interesting to see that, even though Steve seems like he wants to settle down and live a peaceful, ranching life, he still can’t bring himself to give up his secret identity. It is also interesting that Steve cannot escape Smiley Burnette. This time, Smiley is the owner of Red Mound’s restaurant and he’s accompanied by Texas Jim Lewis and the Lone Star Cowboys. It seems like Smiley sings even more than usual in this entry.

I liked the opening of The Stranger From Ponca City, in which Steve rides into town and all of the townspeople demand to know which side of Red Mound he supports. Smiley even explains that food made on one side of the town cannot be taken to the other without it leading to violence. After the opening sequence, The Stranger From Ponca City focuses on all of the usual horse chases and gunfights that showed up in all of the Durango Kid films. Most of the Durango Kid stock company shows up as well. Keep an eye out for Jock Mahoney, playing a bad guy with Kermit Maynard.

Director Derwin Abrahams keeps things moving, even if his direction is not up the level of the work of Durango’s usual directors, Ray Navarro and Fred F. Sears. This isn’t the best of the Durango Kid films but fans of the genre should enjoy it.

Oil’s been discovered on the Texas frontier and Sam Jason (Fred Sears) has got the rights to several wells. Someone in town keeps sabotaging his operations and blowing up his oil wells. Sam sends a telegram to his old friend, Steve Driscoll (Charles Starrett). Steve shows up in town to help Sam set up his business. Meanwhile, Steve’s alter ego, the masked Durango Kid, works to discover who has been targeting Sam.

This is actually more of a Smiley Burnette movie than a Durango Kid film. As always, Smiley is the Kid’s sidekick in the movie. Smiley owns a general store and he’s the towns postmaster. Everywhere Smiley goes, he is followed by two musicians, Mustard and Gravy. Smiley sings even more songs than usual in this movie and he even has a brief romance with the local widow (Mary Newton), who unfortunately is also behind the efforts to drive Sam out of business. Smiley may be the sidekick but he gets more screentime than the Durango Kid in The Lone Hand Texan and he does a mighty fine job with it.

One of the curious things about The Lone Hand Texan is that one of the bad guys also decides to wear a mask and claim to be The Durango Kid. I wish the movie has done more with that because I have never really understood why Steve feels like he has to pretend to be Durango in the first place. It’s not as if it’s difficult to recognize Steve, even when he’s wearing a mask. I have never understood why no one in his movies ever notices that you never see Steve and the Durango Kid in the same place at the same time. Even Lois Lane should have been able to figure out Durango’s secret identity.

The Lone Hand Texas is a standard Durango Kid outing, albeit not as dependent on stock footage as some of Durango’s other films. Smiley gets to do more than usual, which is the only thing that really sets it apart. As with most of the Durango Kid films, it will be best appreciated by those who are already fans.