Last night we watched Buster Crabbe and pals in "Billy the Kid's Smoking Guns"(1942). As usual, Billy, "Fuzzy" (Al St. John) and "Jeff" (Dave O'Brien) are laying low outside of town, wondering why the Sheriff blames them for every crime. Then Fuzzy's stomach starts grumbling - he's always complaining about being hungry - and, as per the formula, the three head out in search of some vittles. En route, they come across a little boy named "Dickie Howard" (Joel Newfield, director Sam's kid) who holds them at gunpoint. "Stick 'em up!", he orders. Someone has shot his Pa, and Dickie thinks Billy and company are there to hurt him. Billy talks him down, Dickie is only about six years old, and they take his Pa back to town, where the Sheriff accuses them of shooting him. Billy tells the Sheriff to ask Dickie, who says "it wasn't them, Mr. Sheriff." They take Dickie's Pa to the local doctor (Milton Kibbee), and Billy thinks he'll be okay. But the doc is running a foreclosure ring. He gives Pa a coup de grace shot to kill him. Then the Sheriff (Ted Adams) rides back to the man's ranch to tell his wife (Joan Barclay) that she should move away. He offers her 200 dollars and the cancellation of her debt at the general store in exchange for her ranch.
That's the scam being run by the doctor, the Sheriff, the saloon owner, and a goon named "Roberts" (Slim Whittaker). They've found out that the Army plans to buy all the land in the valley to turn it into a cavalry post. The ranchers don't know this, so instead of getting fair market value from the Army (and probably extra money for being displaced), they're getting eviction notices from a group called The Association, headed up by the doctor, who owns the general store. He grossly overcharges the ranchers for goods, and his honchos prevent supplies from being brought into town by any other means. The doctor also has liens on all the rancher's properties. Having seen umpteen plots like this, you've gotta wonder if these scenarios were actually playing out in real life in the Old West, when there was no law and order and saloon owners or doctors could prey upon the citizens, so long as they had henchmen to carry out their evil propositions.
Henchmen are the crucial element. And, you need a Crooked Sheriff, which you have in Ted Adams.
Back to the plot: Billy finds out that the doc and the Sheriff are behind the scheme. In a subplot, Fuzzy tries opening his own general store to compete with The Association, but it's all he can do to get the sign up over his storefront. Al St. John as usual provides Keaton-ish comic relief. The punchouts go on too long in this flick, and there is no romance, despite having the beautiful Joan Barclay on board. Billy finds a huge supply of poison in a locked closet in the doctor's office, which the doc is using to shoot the ranchers up with, if they don't die from being shot by the saloon owner's ambush squad. Fuzzy has found a long range rifle and ammo left behind by an Army patrol, which allows Billy and the boys to pick off the henchman from a distance, greatly changing the odds in their favor. All ends well, of course.
In the world of 60 minute Western bad guys, it must be noted that Ted Adams is right there at the top, along with Charles King and Harry Woods. They are the counterparts to our top three cowboys, and Adams always plays a deceptive conniver, a Snidely Whiplash or blustering authoritarian. He never gets in a punchout when a dirty trick will work just as well. But in this movie, he tries to take advantage of a widow and her small boy (Joan Barclay and Dickie, who has some great comic scenes with Fuzzy), and Buster Crabbe won't stand for it. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Billy the Kid's Smoking Guns". The picture is close to razor sharp. ////
Our Youtube movie schedule got messed up by the screening of "Blazing Saddles" the other night, and since I included it as a footnote in the previous blog, I don't have a second movie to review for this one. The situation will be rectified in the next blog, but for now, to hold you over, I'll mention some films I've watched during the past few weeks, inspired by last year's trips to Disneyland. I'm talking about the original Disney animated classics, beginning with "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"(1937). Including that film, I also watched "Pinocchio", "Peter Pan", "Alice in Wonderland", "Sleeping Beauty", "Cinderella" and "The Sword in the Stone." (Couldn't do "Bambi" for obvious reasons, sorry). What got me interested were the rides in Fantasyland, my favorite part of the park. I started wondering, "what's the full story behind 'Peter Pan?' ", and since I've never read the book, I decided to get the Disney movie to fill me in. Watching it, I realised I'd seen it as a child, and the same turned out to be true for all the films, but the thing is, if you haven't seen the Disney classics in a while, by all means revisit them. Not only is the animation in each film a thing of unsurpassed beauty (especially in "Snow White" and "Sleeping Beauty"), but the stories and characters, and the voices of the characters and the music, all have a special magic that only Disney can provide. For me, and perhaps for you, too, the whole Disney mystique is an enormous part of my life, and in addition to finally going back to Disneyland last year after a ten year absence (which will never happen again, I assure you), watching these movies was an equally joyous and restorative thing. Uncle Walt knew the special pockets in the heart and in the imagination where the magic is stored and resonates. That's why, to me, he was the greatest creative genius of the 20th century.
Every Disney classic I mentioned gets our highest rating of Two Gigantic Thumbs Up, and each represents the absolute best in filmmaking and in art. Watch them at your earliest convenience. ////
That's all I know for the moment. I'm listening to "Wishbone 4" by Wishbone Ash, and I send you Tons of Love as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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