Border Treasure (1950) User Reviews

Disaster Relief

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 26 January 2017]

This Tim Holt western has a different background than a lot of westerns as the subject is disaster relief. Inez Cooper who is a leading citizen and a wealthy one in Mexico has pledged her jewelry collection which is considerable and she's raised a lot more for the relief of her country's citizens left destitute after an earthquake. Tim Holt and Richard Martin rescue her from a robbery attempt by John Doucette and his gang of outlaws.

But House Peters, Jr. and saloon girl Jane Nigh also are interested and Peters is a ruthless con artist. They have one uneasy alliance with Doucette. Something that Tim and Chito can exploit.

Nigh is one woman Chito can't charm and Cooper is a bit out of his league.

Enough gunplay and a fast moving story for any B western fan.

Tim Holt western

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 9 October 2023]

Earthquake hits Azteca, Mexico. Anita Castro from a powerful family collects a fortune and leads a relief expedition. Outlaws plan to rob them at the lawless border area. Tim Holt and Chito Rafferty are nearby when they get in the middle of the action.

I don't like Chito's rough handling of Stella. He needs to be more light-handed. It's a different time. I don't know why the bandits would follow that one guy and it's bad strategy for the expedition to begin with. They probably lost their best gun. It's a lot of old time western action from gun fights to bar fights. It is what it is and that's alright by me.

How Can You Get in Such Trouble While Mending a Fence?

[Henchman_Number1 · 6/10 · 7 March 2022]

Ed and Chito (Tim Holt, Richard Martin) get caught up in a plot to rob a shipment of gold, silver and diamonds on it's way to Mexico to help victims of an earthquake. After hearing unexplained gunfire while mending a fence, they ride out to investigate the source of the dust-up. In short order they are up to their bandanas in trouble as our duo attempts to thwart a heist hatched by town bad guys Bat and Rod (John Doucette, House Peters Jr.), their henchmen and devious saloon singer Stella (Jane Nigh).

This one was directed by George Archainbaud instead of the usual Lesley Selander / Tim Holt pairing. Archainbaud directed a boatload of the Hopalong Cassidy films and the flow of this movie is reminiscent of some of the early Harry 'Pop' Sherman produced Hoppys while still meshing up with the RKO style. So there is the obligatory RKO singing dance hall number. Actually two singing dance hall numbers. It was as if RKO studio executives took a solemn oath that these routines must be included in all of the Tim Holt westerns.

Border Treasure is probably a notch lower than Holt's other westerns in that same time frame. Director Lesley Selander had pretty much nailed down the Tim Holt franchise and they cranked out some of the best B-Westerns of that era. Not sure why they decided to make a one time change for this film. Nevertheless the well above average RKO production quality, Lone Pine location shots and decent amount of action make this a solid entry into the Tim Holt series.

"Maybe for a change you haven't opened a can of beans."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 16 November 2023]

Kind of curious how Tim Holt appeared in his later Westerns under his own name, but prior to roughly 1952, he would go by different characters as he does here, with the name Ed Porter. On the flip side, his sidekick Richard Martin always went by the name of Chito Rafferty, although this is one of the few pictures in which his full name is mentioned - Chito Jose Gonzalez Bustamante Rafferty! He explains it in Spanish to pretty Anita Castro (Inez Cooper) and you can tell she gets some amusement out of it. What she's not amused by is the theft of jewelry and expensive metalware she's raised to help with disaster victims of a Mexican earthquake. When a band of outlaws ambushes Anita's mule train, it's up to Eduardo and Chito to recover the goods and put away the bad guys. What's a little unusual about the story is how the gang leader going by 'Bat' (John Doucette) is taken out of the action early when Chito recognizes him as one of the guys who robbed him earlier. After he's arrested, second-in-command Rod (House Peters Jr.) takes over with no qualms from the other members, especially saloon gal Stella (Jane Nigh), who earlier distracted the good guys so the mule train could be robbed. This is one team up between Tim Holt and Richard Martin in which his character Chito doesn't utter one of those signature goofy lines of his where he mangles the English language. Instead, it's Ed Porter who comes up with a winner this time when he states to his partner the line in my summary above.

A weak entry

[coltras35 · 4/10 · 16 April 2023]

A deadly quake decimates an area of Mexico just beyond the Arizona border. Inez Cooper plays a prominent Mexican-American rancher who collects gold, silver, and jewels for an earthquake relief and prepares to take it to Mexico herself. Heavies led by John Doucette and House Peters Jr. Plan to hijack the treasure in Spanish Pass, but they didn't count on the guns of Holt and his sidekick Richard Martin backing up Cooper's journey.

Started out well as it had an interesting idea. An earthquake fund - treasure- will be sent to Mexico. Which means some nasty villains will try and pilfer it. It trots amiably along, however it soon meanders with nothing too remarkable happening. It's got great scenery, some good action, but pace is a bit poor and it's not too engaging like the other Holt-Chito Rafferty westerns.

Pack of Mules

[nammage · 5/10 · 3 February 2017]

Low grade B Western starring Tim Holt. It's a simple paint-by-numbers western where bad guys want treasure that is going to relief after an earthquake hits Mexico. They get caught by two good doers gunfight ensues, leader of the bad guys gets caught by Holt's character, other bad guy takes over while the leader sits in jail from being recognized by Holt's partner from a hold up earlier in the film. Holt and the leader have a 10 minute fight which is about the usual length in westerns from the era.

There's usually some added (and unnecessary) romance in films like this but not actually presented up front. More in the background, and is actually almost non-existent. There's a singer helping the bad guys, and the leader of the relief is female and while it's alluded to on both sides it's mainly just all business and rests primarily on escorting the mule train to Mexico's border.

There is some minor suspense in the vein that the leader of the mule train doesn't readily believe her saviors especially when they rush off to save a "damsel in distress" and then the mule train is robbed of their treasure. Literal treasure. Diamonds, jewels, gold, etc., I found that weird for relief but what do I know?

Overall it was an average B Western. The acting was okay, the fight scene looked fake, and sped up in parts as if a comedy of sort (but wasn't) and the story was cliché. Like the other reviewer in it being different toward most westerns about people giving relief after a tragedy, that's true. Also, the opening sequences actually looked like real footage from such a tragedy. If they did the rest of the film in that vein, I thought it would have been better.

After the shaking stops, the shooting starts.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 5 October 2023]

A pleasant enough hour long B western from RKO pairing Tim Holt as the hero and frequent sidekick Richard Martin as the comic relief, half Mexican and half Irish which gives the pair a lot of lighter moments but does little to advance the plot. Sadly, Martin's Chito Rafferty isn't exactly the brightest bulb, often causing more trouble through inept non-thinking than quick on his feet sagebrush smarts.

The plotline has to do with the theft of proceeds from a fund drive for earthquake victims, definite stock footage in the opening scene, poorly mixed with shots of those present looking on in horror. Inez Cooper is far too Caucasian looking for her role as the wealthy do-gooder raising money for her people, and Jane Nigh wasn't very convincing as the saloon singer performing a poor version of "Up in a Balloon". Thankfully over and done with decent action, but strictly routine.