Dan Duryea plays Al Jennings, a hot-headed young lawyer whose temper starts him off on a career on the wrong side of the law.
Al starts a courtroom brawl when an opposing attorney named Marsden calls his brother a thief. Looking to settle the score, the attorney tracks down his brother and demands an apology. Well, Jennings’ brother winds up dead. Al tracks down Marsden and winds up killing him in self-defense.
Rather than face trial for murder, Al and brother Frank seek refuge on a local ranch where the brands on the cattle look a wee bit funny. The owner, Fred Slater, learns they’re wanted. He gives them an ultimatum: He can turn them over to the law for the reward or they can join the outlaw gang he oversees. Al and Frank opt for the latter option. Next thing you know, they’re the masterminds behind the gang. And the price on their heads keeps rising.
Deciding that price is getting a bit too tempting even for their friends, Al and Frank head for New Orleans. They plan to start a legitimate business; Al is hoping for a reunion with a pretty young lady named Margo St. Claire (Gale Storm), who he met when he saved her on a runaway buggy.
Naturally, a railroad detective tracks them down. Force to flee again, they decide to head back to Oklahoma –- the last place they think anyone would look for them — to pull one last job before going straight for good. It doesn’t go quite as planned either.
Review:
Al Jennings was a real attorney, a real outlaw and later became a politician and an actor in early Western silent films. This movie is reportedly based on his autobiography.
It has its entertaining moments, like when Margo and Al first meet. It has its silly moments, like when Al and Frank escape from a posse after Al mounts a stick figure on the saddle of his horse and wraps his clothing around it. It looks incredibly fake, but it fakes out the posse into thinking it’s really Al, so they chase the stick figure instead of the real thing.
The biggest problem with the film is that there’s no reason for the viewer to feel any sympathy toward Al Jennings. His short fuse is the reason for his problems and the only reason he avoids capture for so long is that he’s adept at traveling for places where he’s outside the law’s jurisdiction or reach.
If anything, you wonder what the Margo St. Claire character sees in him, though her friend’s reaction when she learns the real identity of Al and Frank is priceless.
Directed by:
Ray Nazzaro
Cast:
Dan Duryea … Al Jennings
Dick Foran … Frank Jennings
Gale Storm … Margo St. Claire
Raymond Greenleaf … Judge Jenings
Guinn Willaims … Lon Tuttle
Gloria Henry … Alice Clahoun
Stanley Andrews … Marshal Slattery
Harry Shannon … Fred Salter
Helen Brown … Mrs. Salter
John Dehner … Tom Marsden
Robert Bice … Pete Kincaid
George J. Lewis … Sammy Page
Jimmie Dodd … Buck Botkin
Eddie Parker … Doc Wrightmire
James Griffith … Slim Harris
James Millican … Ed Jennings
Louis Jean Heydt … John Jennings
John Ridgely … Railroad detective Hanes
Runtime: 79 min.
Memorable lines:
Al Jennings: “It was cold-blooded murder. Marsden’s going to pay for it.”
Judge Jennings: “The law will see that he does.”
Al: “I doubt it. They tell me he’s quite a political figure around here. Is that right, John?”
John Jennings: “There’s no doubt, he carries some weight.”
Al: “He’ll be carrying a lot more weight if they turn him loose.”
Al Jennings, after finding a gun in the jacket of a railroad detective on the train he’s holding up: “Why didn’t you use it?
Detective: “I’m a special agent, not a special fool.”
Margo St. Claire, when Al Jennings, using the name Thompson, shows up in New Orleans for a visit: “I supposed I should be flattered, Mr. Thompson.”
Al Jennings: “Maybe you should be at that. You’re the only woman I remembered more than a day or two.”
Alice Calhoun, when the real identity of Al and Frank is revealed: “Ooh, train robbers. Ooh, my goodness gracious. I don’t know whether to be killed or thrilled.”
){kind=link}