Brett King is Joe Branch, a young man haunted by a note left by his side as an abandoned baby. It reads: “Take care of the boy — give him a good home.” It’s signed by Jesse James.
Ever since, Branch has been dogged by the reputation of the man believed to be his father. Now he’s heard rumors that Jesse might still be living — that he might not have been killed by Bob Ford.
If that’s the case, he wants to find Jesse in order to learn the truth about his parentage. And Branch figures he might lure Jesse out from hiding if he heads off in search of a $100,000 fortune Jesse hid somewhere 10 years earlier.
Pretty Kate Manning (Barbara Lawrence) might be the key to finding the loot. If that doesn’t work, locating the Dalton gang (led by James Griffith as Bob) might be another way of learning the truth about Jesse.
Branch rescues the former from a lynching. He decides to locate the Daltons by holding up a train they plan to rob before they can.
Review:
3D effects were the major selling point for this low-budget Western, featuring a cast headed by Brett King, who had secondary roles in a couple of John Wayne war films but had never been top-billed before.
Those effects are used well in the opening scene, in which a mob breaks into jail in an attempt to lynch Kate Manning. They’re used well again in an axe fight between Joe Branch and Grat Dalton.
But they become silly in the climatic shootout in Coffeeville, during which lanterns and tea kettles are tossed in viewers’ direction because they’ve been plugged by poorly aimed bullets.
Of course, that’s no more silly than a plot which has Branch going in the most round-about way imaginable to learn whether he really is the son of Jesse James. Or the title, because in spite of what it might imply, Jesse James never shows up on film.
Directed by:
William Castle
Cast;
Brett King … Joe Branch
Barbara Lawrence … Kate Manning
James Griffith … Bob Dalton
John Cliff … Grat Dalton
William Phipps … Bill Dalton
William Tannen … Emmett Dalton
Roy Mallinson … Bob Ford
Nelson Leigh … Father Kerrigan
Richard Garland … Gilkie
Raymond Largay … Corey Bayless
Runtime: 65 min/
Memorable lines:
Train guard to Joe Branch, who used the name Davis to set set up a ‘trap’ for the Dalton Gang: “You’re crossing the sheriff, the railroad and the Daltons. You’re going to be right popular, Mr. Davis.”
Emmet Dalton: “Bill, ain’t you through polishin’ that thing (rifle) yet?”
Bill Dalton: “Human beings got a right to die fancy, Emmet. There ain’t a fancier gun in the country.”
Emmet: “Almost a pleasure to get shot with it, huh?”
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