The Over the Hill Gang Rides Again (1970)

The Brazos cry — meaning come quick — goes out again. So retired Texas rangers Nash Crawford (Walter Brennan), Jason Fitch (Edgar Buchanan) and George Agnew (Chill Wills) head to Waco, Texas, to rescue a former colleague known as The Baltimore Kid.

Rumor has it, the Baltimore Kid has been jailed for murder as part of a bank job and is in danger of being lynched.

And, sure enough, there’s talk of a lynching and a headstone emblazoned with his name when they reach their destination.

But while they’re drowning their grief at the local saloon, they spot a drunk by the bar who looks very much like there former colleague.

Indeed, it turns out to be the Baltimore Kid, alive and well, but very much under the influence.

They sober him up, buy him a fresh suit of clothes, equip him with a six-gun and, next thing you know, he’s temporary sheriff of Waco thanks to a mayor who’s familiar with his Texas Ranger background.

Now the other retired ranger face new tasks, trying to solve the mystery of how his identification was stolen and trying to keep the rejuvenated Kid alive when the bank robbers come back searching for the loot that disappeared following their first holdup.

A TV movie sequel to 1969’s “The Over the Hill Gang,” with the addition of Fred Astaire and the continued presence of Andy Devine, who went from being a judge in the first film to a newspaperman here.

The plot really doesn’t get moving until the final 30 minutes. That’s when we find out that the pretty saloon girl named Katie has been using The Kid. That’s also when Sam Braham shows up looking for the Wells Fargo loot.

The climax finds our aging heroes using a cattle herd hidden in a saloon (!) and hay bales as much as bullets to battle the bad guys.

Astaire would have been about 70 when the film was made. He’d go on to appear in about a half dozen more films before calling it quits.

Sadly. all the other primary cast members — Brennan, Buchanan, Devine and Wills — supporting actors in so many fine Westerns, passed before the decade ended.

Directed by:
George McCowan

Cast:
Walter Brennan … Nash Crawford
Fred Astaire … The Baltimore Kid
Edgar Buchanan … Jason Fitch
Andy Devine … Amos Polk
Chill Wills … George Agnew
Paul Richards … Sam Braham
Lana Wood … Katie Flaven
Parley Baer … The mayor
Walter Burke … Tom, the stableman
Lillian Bronson … Mrs. Louise Murphy
Jonathan Hole … Parson
Pepper Martin … The drifter
Don Wilbanks … The cowboy
Burt Mustin … Best man

Runtime: 75 min.

Memorable lines:

George Agnew: “We’re so far over that hill, I can’t even remember seeing the hump.”

Baltimore Kid: “I used to be able to hit the head of a nail at 50 feet. Now, I’d shoot my foot off.”

Baltimore Kid: “I only know one way to face trouble — head on.”
Nash Crawford: “Well, that’s okay for a young buck. But with an old elk, he’ll stay alive a lot longer using his brains instead of his antlers.”

Baltimore Kid: “I was wrong thinking a new suit and a shave could take me back 20 years.”

Nash Crawford: “There’s a lot you can handle, once you face that one fact that keeps gnawing at ya. You’re past your prime. You can never be the man you once was. But that don’t mean you can’t be just as good a man in other ways.”