Buckaroo From Powder River (1947, directed by Ray Nazarro)

Posted on April 11, 2025 by Jedadiah Leland

Pop Ryland (Forrest Taylor) is a frontier outlaw who makes law-breaking a family business. With his two sons, Pop is planning on flooding the territory with counterfeit bonds. His stepson, Tommy (Paul Campbell), doesn’t want anything to do with any criminal activity so Pop sends for McCall (Frank McCarroll), an assassin. In a letter, Pop explains that he wants his stepson murdered. When federal agent Steve Lacey (Charles Starrett) captures McCall, he finds the letter. Steve heads into town and goes undercover, pretending to be McCall. He also uses his other identity, the Durango Kid, to thwart Pop’s plans.

More than usual, this Durango Kid film leans more into the undercover aspect of Steve’s work. What’s interesting is that, after Tommy fakes his own death, Tommy also disguises himself as the Durano Kid and keeps his stepfather from suspecting that Steve is actually a member of law enforcement. It’s actually pretty clever, as far as these movies go, and it answers the question of why no one ever wonders why Steve and Durango are never in the same place at the same time.

Smiley Burnette shows up as Steve’s sidekick and he sings a few songs with the The Cass County Boys. Along with Smiley’s antics, this film has all of the horse chases and gunfights that we expect from a Durango Kid movie. Most of the usual stock company is present, including Ted Adams and Kermit Maynard. As always, Charles Starrett looks authentic riding horse and handling a gun. If you’re not into westerns, this film won’t convert you. But, for fans of the genre, this is another entertaining outing for the Durango Kid,

Pecos River (1951, directed by Fred F. Sears)

Posted on May 23, 2024 by Jedadiah Leland

College student Jack Mahoney (Jock Mahoney) returns to his hometown on the frontier to pay a surprise visit to his father, Old Henry (Edgar Dearing). Old Henry owns a local stagecoach line and is being targeted by outlaws. When Jack reaches his father’s house, he discovers that someone has shot Henry in the back. With the help of Steve Baldwin (Charles Starrett) and Betty Coulter (Anne James), two of Henry’s employees, Jack Mahoney tries to bring his father’s killers to justice.

Also helping is the masked Durango Kid, who tells Jack that Henry was an old friend of his. Durango, who is never present at the same time as Steve for some reason, teaches Jack how to handle a gun. When Steve is framed for murder, Durango works even harder to help bring the outlaws to justice.

This late Durango Kid entry has more of an edge that some of the other Durango films. Both Durango and Jack are out for vengeance and their grim determination sets this one apart from some of Durango’s other, more jokey adventures.

Even with Durango in a serious mood, Smiley Burnette is around to provide some humor. This time, Smiley is a traveling “specs specialist” who goes from town to town and sells people glasses. (He also sings two songs while accompanied by Harmonica Bill.) At the end of the movie, Smiley breaks the fourth wall, puts on a pair of glasses that he says allow him to see the future, and he lets us know whether or not Durango, Jack, and Betty are going to be safe. Smiley says that he can see himself singing but he can’t hear the song because he only has the glasses. “Looks like a good song, too.”

One final note: this movie actually features Jock Mahoney in two roles. Not only does he play college student Jack Mahoney but he was also Charles Starrett’s stunt double in the movie’s action scenes.

Six-Gun Law (1948, directed by Ray Nazarro)

Posted on May 17, 2024 by Jedadiah Leland

Steve Norris (Charles Starrett) has moved to a new frontier town and is making a good living as a cattle rancher. The sheriff (Ethan Laidlaw) takes a dislike to Steve and even accuses him of being a cattle rustler. Steve is so angered that he plays right into the hands of Decker (Hugh Prosser), a corrupt businessman who secretly puts blanks into Steve’s gun and then tricks Steve into thinking that he has shot and killed the sheriff.

Decker appoints Steve as the new sheriff but demands that Steve do exactly what Decker orders him to do. If Steve actually enforced the law, Decker will turn him in as the first sheriff’s murderer. Steve may not be able to do anything about Decker’s crimes but his alter ego, The Durango Kid, can! As always, working with Steve is his loyal sidekick, Smiley Burnette.

The stand-out set piece of this Durango Kid film is an exciting stagecoach chase, which features the Durango Kid (in the form of legendary stuntman Jock Mahoney) making some thrilling moves. The scene was so exciting and popular that it was used in a dozen other Durango Kid films. These movies were never shy about reusing good scenes, effective stunts, and plot twists. (It’s easy to lose track of how many times Steve has been appointed as sheriff of a town.) This was also neither the first nor the last time that Hugh Prosser and Robert Wilke would play bad guys in a Durango Kid movie. However, this is the only Durango Kid film to feature the Rodeo Rangers providing musical accompaniment to Smiley Burnette’s songs.

Six-Gun Law will be best appreciated by fans of the western genre. Charles Starrett is as tough and authentic a cowboy as always and the storyline has some nice twists and turns. For once, with Steve being blackmailed by Decker, it makes sense that Steve would put on his disguise and solve his problems as the Durango Kid.

The Stranger From Ponca City (1947, directed by Derwin Abrahams)

Posted on May 13, 2024 by Jedadiah Leland

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.

Prairie Roundup (1951, directed by Fred F. Sears)

Posted on May 11, 2024 by Jedadiah Leland

Steve Carson (Charles Starrett) is wanted for murdering the Durango Kid!

I know that sounds confusing because Steve Carson is the Durango Kid. The bandit that Carson shot was just disguised as the Durango Kid but actually, he was just a dim-witted outlaw who was set up by Buck Prescott (Frank Fenton), a rustler who was run out of Texas by Steve and who was trying to find a way to stop Steve from investigating his new scheme to cheat a bunch of ranchers in Santa Fe.

Steve is taken to jail but luckily, Smiley Burnette is around to help him break out. Smiley and Steve head to Santa Fe, where they get jobs working as cowhands at the Eaton Ranch and work to expose Prescott and his gang as being responsible for a series of stampedes. Smiley sings some songs and Steve resurrects the Durango Kid from the dead.

This was one of the later Durango Kid films. The range war plot is one that showed up in many Durango Kid films but Prairie Roundup adds something new to the formula but having Steve framed for murdering himself. Steve could prove his innocence by revealing that he’s actually the Durango Kid but Steve is determined to maintain his secret identity. I’ve seen several Durango Kid films and I still don’t really understand why Steve felt he needed a secret identity in the first place. But Prairie Roundup shows the extent to which he’ll go to keep it.

There’s plenty of fight and horse chases, more than enough to keep western fans happy. Smiley Burnette gets to throw some punches along with singing all of his usual songs. It’s also nice to see the lovely Mary Castle in the role of Toni Eaton, the daughter of one of the ranchers who has been targeted by Prescott. Featuring less stock footage than usual, Prairie Roundup is a worthy entry in the Durango Kid series.

Val’s Movie Roundup #2: Hallmark Edition

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Valerie Troutman

Signed, Sealed, Delivered: From Paris With Love (2015) – Despite what people say elsewhere online, you can’t come into this film without having seen any of the other Signed, Sealed, Delivered TV Movies/Episodes. I know this because I tried and it doesn’t work. The movie is about four people (conveniently picked so we know that they should pair off) who get dead letters and track down who should have received them. Sounds like it should be a procedural, but it’s not. This series seems to set up a tiny little bit of a plot, then spends the whole time having the characters develop through conversation. The reason this film will lose people who are brand new is because it reaches all the way back through everything to the first episode of the show to bring Oliver’s (Eric Mabius) wife into his life again. The wife is played by Poppy Montgomery in a role far better than in Tammy and the T-Rex. Yeah, I’m going to work that movie into as many reviews as possible. There are also flashbacks. You really need to come to this as the culmination of all the previous stuff. As a result, my experience with this film was not good. It felt inert. Kind of like passing away slowly, but painlessly. I know that sounds brutal, but I can’t think of a better way to describe it.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas (2014) – This Signed, Sealed, Delivered is a different beast. It’s still the same characters and once again a dead letter has shown up. This time it’s a letter for God. You’d think it’s for Santa considering Christmas is in the title, but this is less a Christmas movie as it is a Christian movie. Unlike From Paris With Love, you can come into this without knowing anything. That’s a real plus! Again, it’s not about plot, but character development. And subtle slow development at that. I wonder how long Hallmark is planning to keep this show going. It can feel like being teased at times. Like near the end when Norman (Geoff Gustafson) reaches up to gently touch Rita’s (Crystal Lowe) face. You know she should just grab him in her arms, but it never happens. Instead, he walks away while she is lit up like a Christmas tree. If you have to choose between the two TV Movie episodes of this show to start with, then please start with this one. You’ll have a far better time, and most likely will enjoy From Paris With Love much more than I did.

Surprised By Love (2015) – When the cake gets destroyed, just make a new one from Twinkies! There’s nothing really to be surprised about here. You have a driven girl with the wrong guy. You have one of those guys who achieved some sort of nirvana by wandering from place to place. He’s kind of like the magic negro or magic eccentric type character that turns around other people’s lives simply by coming in contact with them. And finally, you have her boyfriend who is stuffy and clearly doesn’t belong with her. Our heroine runs into the magic man who is selling driftwood. Yeah, and his car runs on vegetable oil. I’m not making that up. What happens is that her boyfriend thinks it will be really clever if she brings home the magic man, whom she knows from high school, to be an embarrassment so he looks wonderful. Guess what happens? At least the grandpa who pretends to have dementia so he doesn’t have to talk to anybody is kind of funny. This one’s harmless.

Nearlyweds (2013) – Yeah, that’s easily the best scene in the movie. A phone call comes in with a job offer and while the person is leaving a message, the dog pees on the phone and it shorts out. But let me back up. This movie is about three girlfriends who all got married around the same time by the same guy. Problem though, he dies before he can sign the paperwork. That means, technically, legally, they’re not actually married. Typical, but could be humorous. Except it’s not. One of the big problems is that the husbands don’t find out about this until 48 minutes into the movie. At that point there are 39 minutes left. I don’t know why it takes so long. Everything prior seems like filler, then the secret is out, and still next to nothing happens. I know it’s Hallmark and a TV Movie in general, but they really should have done more with this. It’s not a concept that’s necessarily doomed from the start. Too bad.