Well if there was ever any doubt that these Durango Kid flicks were made for a pre-adolescent gang of nine and ten year olds, this one will rest my case. For example, when Smiley Burnette and Betty Long express their disbelief that anyone could have made a noise in the basement of the Long home, it became pretty obvious to me that Miss Long must have never walked across the room to know that there was a door on the other side! And then, later on in the story when Durango and Smiley open that door and discover a cave used by silver smugglers, they proceed down the passage way for a distance, and upon turning around all you see is the great outdoors! How did that happen?
Well I guess none of this had to make any sense to a theater full of screaming kids who came there to see Durango whip up on the bad guys. This film had plenty of them, led by crooked Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Hadley (Tristram Coffin). You know, I never commented on this before even though I've seen him in a slew of old Westerns, but who ever came up with the name Tristram. There's just no way to say it without it sounding like it's being mispronounced. Tris for short makes more sense, but gee, what was Mrs. Coffin thinking when she named her son?
And wait a minute now - did I see what I think I saw? The Durango Kid is riding his horse and gets knocked off by a tree branch? Wow, is that any way to treat a hero? Actually I saw this happen in another B Western, I think it was Buster Crabbe but can't remember the name of the picture. I'll have to get back to you on that one.
Well if you think I'm being critical here, forget it. I can watch this stuff pretty much all day if I had the chance. It's a lot of fun catching all the goofy stuff going on, and if you can put up with the nonsense and the endless horse chases, you might even learn something. Like thirty five dollars a month was pretty good pay for a ranch hand in the 1880's. But there is one thing the movie left me wondering about - what exactly is a frog-sticker?
Well I guess none of this had to make any sense to a theater full of screaming kids who came there to see Durango whip up on the bad guys. This film had plenty of them, led by crooked Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Hadley (Tristram Coffin). You know, I never commented on this before even though I've seen him in a slew of old Westerns, but who ever came up with the name Tristram. There's just no way to say it without it sounding like it's being mispronounced. Tris for short makes more sense, but gee, what was Mrs. Coffin thinking when she named her son?
And wait a minute now - did I see what I think I saw? The Durango Kid is riding his horse and gets knocked off by a tree branch? Wow, is that any way to treat a hero? Actually I saw this happen in another B Western, I think it was Buster Crabbe but can't remember the name of the picture. I'll have to get back to you on that one.
Well if you think I'm being critical here, forget it. I can watch this stuff pretty much all day if I had the chance. It's a lot of fun catching all the goofy stuff going on, and if you can put up with the nonsense and the endless horse chases, you might even learn something. Like thirty five dollars a month was pretty good pay for a ranch hand in the 1880's. But there is one thing the movie left me wondering about - what exactly is a frog-sticker?