Bill Elliott is Bill Stockton, who heads to California with buddy Sam Bowie (Andy Devine) to run a gold mine with his brother.
But he arrives to find his brother dead and Mexican miners under siege by outlaws. Vowing vengeance, he starts searching for the responsible party.
There are plenty of suspects, including dashing Johnny Morrell (John Carroll), successful businessman Luis Savarin (Joseph Schildkraut) and a marshal named Luckner (Grant Withers), who Stockton thinks might be crooked.
There’s one other potential person behind the thievery, pretty Marie Marlowe (Catherne McLeod), an entertainer at Savarin’s business.
Stockton is falling for her, but she prefers Savarin, not because she loves him, but because she loves the life he can buy her.
Bill Elliott as Bill Stockton, trying to uncover the truth about his brother’s death in Old Los Angeles (1948)
Joseph Schildkraut as Luis Savarin, the man secretly behind all the trouble in Old Los Angeles (1948)
Review:
So-so Elliott vehicle features lots of songs in the first half, courtesy of leading ladies Catherine McLeod and Estelita Rodriguez, and lots of action in the second half.
Rodriguez plays the daughter of Senora Del Rey, one of the leading Mexican families in Los Angeles. She’s forbidden from having anything to do with Johnny Morrell, and seems to love him even more as a result.
Savarin is behind all the evil doing. He’s trying to buy up enough land to start his own personal empire. But he does it all behind the scenes, letting Luckner orchestrate the dirty deeds.
Rodriguez would later have a role in one of the campiest Westerns of all time, “Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter” (1966).
Catherine McLeod as Marie Marlowe, torn between Bill Stockton and Luis Savarin in Old Los Angeles (1948)
Estelita Rodriguez as Estelita Del Rey, always flirtaceous and smitten with Johnny Morrell in Old Los Angeles (1948)
Directed by:
Joseph Kane
Cast:
William Elliott … Bill Stockton
John Carroll … Johnny Morrell
Catherine McLeod … Marie Marlowe
Joseph Schildkraut … Luis Savarin
Andy Devine … Sam Bowie
Estelita Rodriguez … Estelita Del Rey
Virginia Brissac … Senora Del Rey
Grant Withers … Marshal Ed Luckner
Roy Barcroft … Clyborne
Henry Brandon … Larry Stockton
Julian Rivero … Diego
Earle Hodgins … Horatius P. Gassoway
Augie Gomez … Miquel
Runtime: 88 min.
John Carroll as Johnny Morrell, the man who does dirty deeds for Luis Savarin in Old Los Angeles (1948)
Grant Withers as Marshal Ed Luckner, a crooked lawman in cahoots with Luis Savarin in Old Los Angeles (1948)
Memorable lines:
Bill Stockton: “Let’s get unsaddled. You’ve gotta to work some of that fat off of you.”
Sam Bowie: “Bill, don’t call me that. I ain’t exactly fat. Just kind of, sorta comfortable like.”
Bystander to Marshal Ed Luckner, after he’s taken a bullet: “Are you hurt bad?”
Luckner: “Did you ever hear of anybody being hurt good.”
Andy Devine as Sam Bowie, Bill Stockton’s sidekick in Old Los Angeles (1948)
Virginia Brissac as Senora Del Rey, trying to hold onto her ranch and keep a flirtaceous daughter in line in Old Los Angeles (1948)
Tino Renaldo as Tonio Del Rey, trying to defend his sister’s honor in Old Los Angeles (1948)
William ‘Bill’ Elliott as Bill Stockton and Catherine McLeod as Marie Marlowe in Old Los Angeles (1948)
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