Robert Arthur is Lonny Kesh, a young man who sees little future on a cotton ranch in Double Rivers at the end of the Civil War, where he lives with an alcoholic former soldier for a father and a domineering mother.
So he heads West and becomes friends with reformed outlaw Frank Banner (Rhodes Reason), who gets him a job as a stable boy in San Antone. When the law catches up with Banner, the youngster flees with him, again seeing little future in “pitching hay” for the rest of his life.
They wind up in the Lapman gang, and Lonny winds up holding the getaway horses during a botched bank robbery. He flees back to Double Rivers, hoping to elude the law and hoping for a fresh start.
He finds folks in Double Rivers more than happy to help him get that fresh start, especially young Alice Rutherford (Alice Rutherford), who has been awaiting his return. But the Lapman brothers eventually show up in Double Rivers as well.
Review:
Decent little low-budget pic, far better than one would expect given the Grade Z budget it was obviously made with. Kurt Neumann makes efficient use of the 73-minute run time, gets us to root for Lonny, then delivers a memorable climax, if a bit too tidy of an ending.
Boyish looking Robert Arthur was 21 when this film was released; one of his first feature films was in the fine 1948 Western “Yellow Sky” as a member of Gregory Peck’s gang of bank robbers.
Kathleen Nolan spent nearly her entire career in TV roles, including a lead part in “The Real McCoys,” a comedy series than ran from 1957 to 1962. In fact, she appeared in just one other feature film, the low-budget Western “The Iron Sheriff” (1957).
One of the most interesting roles here is that of banker Jud Collins, who turns out to be not nearly so greedy as young Lonny expected. And, yes, Rhodes Reason is the brother to Rex.
Directed by:
Kurt Neumann
Cast:
Robert Arthur … Lonny Kesh
Kathleen Nolan … Alice Rutherford
Rhys Williams … Jud Collins
Rhodes Reason … Frank Banner
Dave O’Brien … Dock Lapman
Kelly Thordsen … Big Tobe Lapman
Robert Osterloh … Deputy Sheriff Broome
William Challee … Tom Kesh
Mae Clarke … Jane Kesh
Carol Kelly … Hattie
Frank Sully … Carl Branch
Runtime: 73 min.
Memorable lines:
Lonny, when he falls on top of Alice in the cotton field: “Sorry if I squished you.”
Alice: “It’s a pleasing sort of squashed.”
Jane Kesh, as her husband complains of his Civil War experience: “Ah, shut up. The only ting the war did to you is you got tuckered out running from it. Just look at this place. Worse than a rat’s nest.”
Lonny, after target practice: “It’s funny how a little six-gun can make a fella feel so much stronger and braver. It kind of whittles everybody else down to your size.”
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