Kangaroo Kid (1950)

Jock Mahoney is Tex Kinnane, an investigator with the Remington Detective Agency.

Having just solved one case, he’s looking forward to a 60-day vacation and lots of time spent with a pretty blonde named Delores.

It’s not to be. He’s ordered to Gold Star, Australia, where the agency believes a U.S. resident wanted for murder might be operating.

That killer’s modus operandi: Follow the gold strikes, then steal the gold others dig from the ground.

When Kinnane reaches Gold Star, he learns the local law — headed by Sgt. Jim Penrose (Guy Doleman) — is indeed investigating the theft of mine shipments.

And there are two Americans living in Gold Star, an attorney named Moller and a small-time miner named Corbett, father of the young woman Penrose is romancing.

But before Kinnane can do much investigating, Moller catches wind of his arrival and has him framed for the theft of another gold shipment.

In order to throw suspicion elsewhere, Moller helps Kinnane escape jail, convinced he’ll flee back to America.

Instead, he returns to snooping, with the help of a pretty bartender (Veda Ann Borg as Stella Gray) and a gold shipment driver (Alec Kellaway as Baldy Muldoon).

Jock Mahoney as Tex Kinnane, working undercover as a wagon driver to investigate a series of holdups in Kangaroo Kid (1950)

Guy Doleman as Sgt. Jim Penrose, trying to solve the robberies and suspicious of Tex Kinnane in Kangaroo Kid (1950)

Review:

Forget the setting. With the exception of an occasional glimpse of Australian wildlife, this looks like any other 1950s B Western.

Heck, these Australians even use stagecoaches to transport their gold.

Tex is the Kangaroo Kid, a nickname he acquires because he adopts a baby kangaroo to serve as his “mascot” early in the film.

Otherwise, the kangaroo does not play a major part of the plot of this very routine film.

Two pretty girls do, the aforementioned Veda Ann Borg and Martha Hyer, as the American girl Penrose wants to marry.

In one neat touch, Tex asks every pretty blonde he meets if her name is Delores.

Veda Ann Borg as Stella Gray, the bartender who takes an immediate liking to Tex Kinnane, and cares for his kangaroo, in Kangaroo Kid (1950)

Martha Hyer as Mary Corbett, stunned by the suggestion that she become the lover of the much older Vincent Moller in Kangaroo Kid (1950)

Directed by:
Lesley Selander

Cast:
Jock Mahoney … Tex Kinnane
as Jock O’Mahoney
Veda Ann Borg … Stella Gray
Guy Doleman … Sgt. Jim Penrose
Martha Hyer … Mary Corbett
Douglass Dumbrille … Vincent Moller
Alec Kellaway … Baldy Muldoon
Alan Gifford … Steve Corbett
Grant Taylor … Phil Romero
Haydee Seldon … Ma Muldoon
Frank Ransome … Robey
Charles McCallum … A. Cummings
Raymond Bailey … Quinn
Ben Lewin … Fanning

Runtime: 72 min.

Douglas Dumbrille as Vincent Moller, the man who helps Kinnane break jail to cover his tracks in Kangaroo Kid (1950)

Alan Gifford as Steve Corbett, a small-time miner forced to help Moller plan his heists in Kangaroo Kid (1950)

Memorable lines:

Baldy Muldoon, pointing to the baby kangaroo in Tex Kinnane’s arms: “What are you going to do with that thing?”
Tex: “I’m going to keep him. He’s going to be my mascot.”
Baldy: “I hope he’s got fleas.”

Sgt. Penrose, after breaking up a barroom dispute: “Since you’re a stranger here, I’ll give you a little advice, Kinnane. You may as well learn our ways right from the start. We don’t carry six-guns in this part of the world.”
Tex Kinnane, glancing toward the man he was fighting: “Oh, no? What was he carrying?”
Sgt. Penrose: “He’ll hear about that from me.”
Tex, sarcastically: “Well that’ll help a lot.”

Alec Kellaway as Baldy Muldoon, Kinnane’s fellow driver, trying to convince his wife he deserves one more drink in Kangaroo Kid (1950)

Haydee Seldon as Ma Muldoon, owner of the bar where her husband likes to drink a bit too much in Kangaroo Kid (1950)

Grant Taylor as Phil Romero, Moller’s main henchman, doing some snooping of his own in Kangaroo Kid (1950)

Jock Mahoney as Tex Kinnane, who adopts a baby kangaroo and earns a nickname in Kangaroo Kid (1950)