Buster Crabbe is Kip Tanner and he’s been summoned to Abilene to assist his brother, Gene.
Gene indicates he’s run into some sort of trouble with a wealthy rancher (Barton MacLane as Seth Hainline) and wants Kip’s help even though he’s always disapproved of Kip’s affinity for the six-gun.
By the time Kip reaches Abilene, his brother has disappeared and is suspected of robbing a stage carrying the money he and the other small ranchers got from combining their herds and selling their beef.
Given his brother’s peace-loving ways, Kip doesn’t believe the story and starts searching for the truth.
Among the facts he uncovered: By banding together, the small ranchers put a financial pinch on Hainline, who settled the territory and considers them all “nesters.”
What’s more, Kip’s brother was engaged to Hainline’s daughter Alice (Judith Ames). Hainline, of course, didn’t approve of her plans to marry one of those nesters.
Buster Crabbe as Kip Tanner in Gunfighters of Abilene (1960)
Barton MacLane as Seth Hainline in Gunfighters of Abilene (1960)
Review:
This one might keep you guessing a bit longer than some of the other low-budget Westerns director Edward Cahn was churning out at the time.
But filmed in black and white, it still seems behind its time. And having Crabbe as your star isn’t typically a sign that you’re in for a rousing good time.
More interesting are the female members of the cast. This marked the final film for Raquel Torena, who plays the pretty Mexican hotel clerk who helps Kip get at the truth.
She had married Bob Strauss, heir to the Pep Boys Auto Supply Company fortune, and retired to raise a family. They had three children together.
Judith Ames would soon start a long run as nurse Audrey Hardy on the daytime soap opera “General Hospital,” a role that led to three daytime Emmy nominations. She also appeared in more than 250 episodes of the “General Hospital” spin-off, “Port Charles.”
Judith Ames as Alice Hainline in Gunfighters of Abilene (1960)
Eugenia Paul as Raquel Torena in Gunfighters of Abilene (1960)
Directed by:
Edward Cahn
Cast:
Buster Crabbe … Kip Tanner
Barton MacLane … Seth Hainline
Judith Ames … Alice Hainline
Lee Farr … Jud Hainline
Russell Thorson … Sheriff Wilkinson
Eugenia Paul … Raquel Torena
Jan Arvan … Miguel Torena
Richard Devon … Marty Ruger
Richard H. Cutting … Hendricks
Kenneth MacDonald … Harker
Boyd “Red” Morgan … Gene Tanner
Runtime: 67 min.
Russell Thorson as Sheriff Wilkinson in Gunfighters of Abilene (1960)
Lee Farr as Jud Hainline with his dad Seth (Barton MacLane) in Gunfighters of Abilene (1960)
Memorable lines:
Kip Tanner, about his brother: “A man who lives on conscience doesn’t bring grief on somebody else, only himself.”
Marshal Wilkinson: “I judge a man by what he does.”
Marshal Wilkinson: “You forget, I’m paid to enforce the law, not take orders from you.”
Seth Hainline: “Make more sense if you’d lose that notion. This is my country, my town. I took me 30 years to build it, and I’m gonna hold it, any way I can. With the law or without it.”
Seth Hainline to his daughter Alice: “You just pick any man you think is deserving, and I’ll get him for you.”
Alice Hainline: “He was a professional gunfighter. You couldn’t have faster than he could. Where did the bullet hit him, dad? In the back?”
Seth Hainline: “Alice, I’m going to forget that you’re my daughter. You’re going to make me …”
Alice: “If I could forget that you’re my father, I’d go to the marshal and tell him the truth. Instead, I’m going to run as far as I can.”
Lee Farr as Jud Hainline and Judith Ames as his sister Alice in Gunfighters of Abilene (1960)
Eugenia Paul as Raquel Torena with her dad Miguel (Jan Arvan) in Gunfighters of Abilene (1960)
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