The setting is West Texas in 1873, and the Texas Rangers have been disbanded, only to be replaced by the corrupt Texas State Police. Tracy Beaumont (Fred Sears) owns the town of Indian Springs and virtually everything in it, but it's not enough. Gaining the upper hand on respected cattle man Homer Ross, in debt to Beaumont for thirty eight thousand dollars, Beaumont agrees to erase the debt by setting him up as the figurehead Commissioner of State Police. At that point, Beaumont gets to send out tax notices to the local cattlemen under Ross's authority, and dispatches his goons to seize property if the victims can't pay.
Enter the Durango Kid, whose alter ego Steve Lanning gets on the inside of Beaumont's gang by posing as a wanted man. This is the only Durango Kid film I've seen where Durango's identity is discovered, by young Tommy Ross (Don Reynolds), who's befriended by Lanning in an opening scene. Lanning commits him to secrecy by swearing him in as an honorary Texas Ranger, and as an assignment, sends him back into town to spy on Smiley Burnette! Smiley arrived in town as "The Tinker's Tinkerer" - experts may charge more to fix things, but Smiley charges less.
This is your standard Durango Kid film, as Smiley gets to do a couple of musical numbers, including a quick change skit playing "Fiddlin' Fool". On hand also are Doye O'Dell and the Radio Rangers, who sound good performing "Give Me Texas" and "Jimmy Crack Corn".
By film's end, the Durango Kid prevails as he always does, and it's off to the next town to right another wrong. Chances are pretty good that he'll run into Smiley Burnette, and the good guys get to prevail once again.
Addendum - 12-7-2014 - In the 1952 Durango Kid film "Smoky Canyon", Durango lowers his mask to reveal his identity to Roberta Woodstock (Dani Sue Nolan) with a vow to keep her future husband Jack Mahoney out of trouble with the cattlemen he'd been feuding with.
Enter the Durango Kid, whose alter ego Steve Lanning gets on the inside of Beaumont's gang by posing as a wanted man. This is the only Durango Kid film I've seen where Durango's identity is discovered, by young Tommy Ross (Don Reynolds), who's befriended by Lanning in an opening scene. Lanning commits him to secrecy by swearing him in as an honorary Texas Ranger, and as an assignment, sends him back into town to spy on Smiley Burnette! Smiley arrived in town as "The Tinker's Tinkerer" - experts may charge more to fix things, but Smiley charges less.
This is your standard Durango Kid film, as Smiley gets to do a couple of musical numbers, including a quick change skit playing "Fiddlin' Fool". On hand also are Doye O'Dell and the Radio Rangers, who sound good performing "Give Me Texas" and "Jimmy Crack Corn".
By film's end, the Durango Kid prevails as he always does, and it's off to the next town to right another wrong. Chances are pretty good that he'll run into Smiley Burnette, and the good guys get to prevail once again.
Addendum - 12-7-2014 - In the 1952 Durango Kid film "Smoky Canyon", Durango lowers his mask to reveal his identity to Roberta Woodstock (Dani Sue Nolan) with a vow to keep her future husband Jack Mahoney out of trouble with the cattlemen he'd been feuding with.
