Last night, in "The Prescott Kid"(1934), Tim McCoy gets "dry gulched" on his way to Laredo by a henchman fronting for the head of a stage robbery gang. The gang boss has called for the ambush because he'a under the assumption that McCoy, as "Tim Hamlin", is the new Marshal, sent by the Feds to clean up Laredo and put him and his honchos in the slammer. But Hamlin is not the incoming Marshal. He's just a cowpoke looking for a job as a 'puncher. The stage driver calls him The Prescott Kid. "I seen him in Arizona". And, he just might be The Kid. He is quick on the draw. He heads straight for the saloon upon arrival and tells all the black hats, "I'm serving notice on the man who shot at me. He put a hole in my hat, and I really liked this hat." McCoy is again in "don't mess with him" mode. The owner of the saloon wants the customers to rough him up, but another man steps in to mediate, a rancher named "Ed Walton" (Stephen Chase). "Here now!" he says. "this man just wants a job". Walton sends Tim over to the Ortega Ranch, where he's hired as a foreman.
However, someone is trying to eliminate the Ortegas. The stage carrying their bank deposits is robbed, and "Don Rafael Ortega" (Carlos De Valdez) is knocked unconscious. His daughter "Delores" (Sheila Mannors) turns to the new foreman for help. Tim doesn't know what's going on, so he goes back to the man who ambushed him. "He thought I was the new Marshal, so he must be a part of the gang". Tim corners the guy at gunpoint, and forces him to talk, but just as he's about to name the leader, the old "open window shot" trick is used. A rifle barrel appears, a shot is fired through the windum and the dry gulcher dies before he can reveal who the boss is.
Tim runs out to chase the shooter, and bumps into a stranger, who tells him, "I could've caught the guy if you hadn't stopped me."
That stranger turns out to be the real Marshal (Joseph Sauers) who was sent to Laredo. He teams up with Tim Hamlin in a ruse to trap whoever is running the gang, who are now out to eliminate the peaceful Ortega family in order to steal their gold. Ed Walton offers to help the Marshal and Tim. He again acts as a mediator, but it seems like he's ignoring the obvious; there's nothing to mediate. The Ortegas are innocent victims. The black hats at the bar seem to know who's been targeting the family, but they aren't intimidated enough to talk. This is a situation where you have to cut the head off the snake, and of course we know where it will lead; Ed Walton is the gang leader, he's been playing both sides against the middle. Before the Marshal can prove this, because Walton has money for a lawyer, Walton frames Tim Hamlin for the theft of the Ortega's gold. A vigilante group is about to string him up, but the Marshal steps in for the very reason he was hired - to prevent lawless behavior. Tim McCoy has maximum screentime in this one, it's all about his White Hat persona. Besides being an actor, he served in both World Wars and rose to the rank of Colonel in the Army Air Corps, so he was a hero in in real life, too. Two Big Thumbs Up for "The Prescott Kid". It's highly recommended and the picture is very good. Charles King is great as always as the main henchman. ////
The previous night, it was Tom Tyler's turn to do the dual role thing, but with a twist. Instead of playing twin brothers, inevitably good and bad, in "The Feud of the Trail"(1937) he plays two men on opposite sides of the law who happen to look exactly alike, but are unrelated. "Jack Granger" (Tyler) is part of a criminal gang who are committing robberies in the Chatsworth Park area. Other members of the gang include the brothers of the neighboring Holcomb family, whose matriarch (Vane Calvert) is a rough and tumble Ma Barker type. She runs her sons with an iron fist and an attitude that would make Wyatt Earp back down. The Holcomb boys discover gold in a mine on the Granger property, and well, Jack Granger is up for stealing, but not from his own Pa and family. When he tells the Holcombs to leave this one alone, they shoot him dead. Then a cattlemen's security officer named "Tom Wade" (also Tyler) rides up with his sidekick "Jerry McLane" (Milburn Morante). They find Jack dying. He tells them the Holcombs did it. McLane says to Wade, "By jiminy, Tom, he looks just like you"! Wade gets an idea, to impersonate Jack Granger, in order to draw out the Holcomb brothers, who thought they had killed him.
But he's torn, because as an honest lawman, he feels it's necessary to inform the Grangers of his plan, and to tell them that their son is dead. When he goes to do this, "Dad Granger" (Lafe McKee) - who's just been "shoulder-shot" by a Holcomb - immediately thinks he's Jack, the prodigal criminal son, and he welcomes him back to the family. "I don't care what you did before, you're my son. From now on all is forgiven, let's move forward." Tom Wade is so caught up in the old man's joy at seeing his "son", that he can't bear to tell him the truth - that he isn't his son, his son is dead. He's just Tom Wade the lawman. So, he goes along with the charade and allows old Mr. Granger to think he's Jack. His daughter also thinks he's Jack, and he spends the night at their house, in Jack's bedroom, where he contemplates Plan B.
Prior to Wade's arrival, The Holcombs had already tried to bully Pa Granger into selling them his ranch for 25 thousand dollars. They know of the gold mine on his property. Pa's daughter says "No Dad, don't sell!" But the Holcombs are ruthless. Dad knows they will take his ranch one way or the other. He also knows the deal is a hoax. As soon as he accepts the 25K in cash and signs the deed, the brothers will return and steal back the cash at gunpoint. Then he won't have his ranch, or the money. Ma Holcomb is making sure her boys do their job. "We gotta have that gold!" she hollers. But by this time, Tom Wade has moved into the Granger house. He rides over to the Holcombs and pretends to be Jack. They thought they killed him and are astonished to see him alive.
Two Big Thumbs Up for "The Feud of the Trail" another Western classic from Tom Tyler. For all his onscreen heroics, though his persona is that of a nice guy, you might think he led a life not unlike that of Tim McCoy. But although Tom Tyler was a top weightlifter and Olympic athlete, his life was cut short by tragic health problems. He developed severe rheumatoid arthritis at 40 and died only ten years later. But he lives on forever in his long list of movies, and I can't recommend them highly enough. The picture on "Feud" is very good. ////
And that's all I know. I'm on a Tull kick, listening to "Heavy Horses". I'm very much enjoying "The Lyrics" by Paul McCartney , which I highly recommend if you're a Beatles fan. I've also been browsing the Barbara Stanwyck biography ("Steel-True" by Victoria Wilson), and I say "browsing" rather than reading because it's 1000 pages and I'm still working on McCartney, but in browsing I've come across a lot of info about the Marwyck Ranch, the property now known as the Oakridge Estate on Devonshire near Reseda. What I didn't know is that, when Barbara Stanwyck bought the property (which she named Marwyck) at the time it ran all the way to Lassen, and had a racetrack and 22 outbuildings. It was one of the biggest horse breeding ranches west of the Mississippi. Yesterday, as I was coming back from Trader Joes, I was driving on Devonshire so I thought, "I'll stop at Marwyck". There's a park now, next door, that I think I have mentioned. From there, you can walk around the back on a trail, so I did. You can see the tennis court, and it was fun to imagine Barbara Stanwyck and her husband Robert Taylor playing a game of tennis in the 1930s. You can also see the landscape all the way down to Lassen, and you can imagine the ranch, when there was nothing else there. In the book, it says that Barbara Stanwyck and Marion Marx, Zeppo's wife, used to ride their horses to Van Nuys on dirt trails. The Marxes lived next door on what is now the Chevrolet dealership.
Holy smokes, I can't believe I'm 62, officially a senior citizen. But when I think about it, it's also kind of cool.
I send you Tons of Love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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