Well even if you enjoy watching the B Western output of the Thirties and Forties, you have to admit that the believability factor for this one is set undeniably low. Not only does Billy the Kid (Bob Steele) retrieve the money spent by local ranchers to buy their land without secure water rights, but he does it by convincing the bad guys to fork over twenty five grand for a phony stash of gold. Did you ever see the main villain in one of these oaters willingly give up that much money? They would usually make some sort of bargain like that and then just kill the unsuspecting rancher they just dealt with, stealing the money back in the process. This guy Cobb Allen (Al Ferguson) sure wasn't thinking straight.
Bob Steele teamed with Fuzzy St. John in a half dozen of these Billy the Kid tales made by Producers Releasing in 1940/41. Steele's Billy was noticeably older than his historical counterpart, and he portrayed him as a hero who was framed by circumstances to look like a villain. In fact, this picture offered a five thousand dollar reward poster for Billy, but unless I missed it, I don't think it was ever mentioned why he was wanted.
Probably the best sequence in the story doesn't even involve Billy at all. It's when Fuzzy heads into the local saloon and puts on a drunk routine to lay out the phony gold story. Cobb Allen's henchmen (Charles King and Kenne Duncan) are taken in, and they figure they'd like to go it alone, so that adds another layer of incredibility to the story, as they wind up bidding against their own boss for the right to buy out the former Blanchard, now Roberts spread. In the middle is Billy, raising the stakes even higher.
I can't say there was a whole lot of action to this one, just some of your standard horse chases and that's about it. The gunfights didn't amount to much and the finale wrapped things up just a bit too quickly, so if you tune in, don't blink. But at least it was another successful outing for Billy and Fuzzy, who wind up heading off into the sunset for their next adventure.
Bob Steele teamed with Fuzzy St. John in a half dozen of these Billy the Kid tales made by Producers Releasing in 1940/41. Steele's Billy was noticeably older than his historical counterpart, and he portrayed him as a hero who was framed by circumstances to look like a villain. In fact, this picture offered a five thousand dollar reward poster for Billy, but unless I missed it, I don't think it was ever mentioned why he was wanted.
Probably the best sequence in the story doesn't even involve Billy at all. It's when Fuzzy heads into the local saloon and puts on a drunk routine to lay out the phony gold story. Cobb Allen's henchmen (Charles King and Kenne Duncan) are taken in, and they figure they'd like to go it alone, so that adds another layer of incredibility to the story, as they wind up bidding against their own boss for the right to buy out the former Blanchard, now Roberts spread. In the middle is Billy, raising the stakes even higher.
I can't say there was a whole lot of action to this one, just some of your standard horse chases and that's about it. The gunfights didn't amount to much and the finale wrapped things up just a bit too quickly, so if you tune in, don't blink. But at least it was another successful outing for Billy and Fuzzy, who wind up heading off into the sunset for their next adventure.
