John Agar plays Jeff Donner, a cowpoke who rides into town of Long Hill looking for a drink and finds a lovely blonde (Penny Edwards as Susan) being threatened by two goons. He rescues her; she later invites him to her room.
Another man gets there first, one who encourages him to pass along the message “gallon and a pint, second day” just before dying. Knowing he’ll be accused of the murder by Marshal Thorne, the new lawman in Long Hill, Donner takes off with Susan.
It’s then that Susan tries to explain: She’s a federal agent, determined to make sure the Union doesn’t lose the war. And she needs to pass along the message, though she has no idea what it means.
Donner doesn’t believe her at first. A dead colonel and a rude welcome at their next stop change his mind. They eventually learn the meaning of the message. In order to secure badly needed supplies, the Confederates are planning a massive cattle drive to New Mexico, across the Rio Grande (the gallon) at a time when the river flow will be low (the pint).
But the second day is right around the corner, and it’s too late to get help from the Union Army. So it’s up to Jeff and Susan to try to foil the Rebel plans.
Review:
A low-budget Western with Penny Edwards doing a poor Marilyn Monroe imitation. At one point, she seems to bewitch a Confederate officer ordered to kill her by walking toward him and talking about how easy she would break, allowing Donner a chance to attack the man.
There are a couple of clever scenes, like the hayride in a farmer’s cart and a game of hide and seek between Donner and two hoodlums in a barn.
But they’re outweighed by the fact that Donner and Susan are up against some of the most inept Rebels ever to land on film, leading to a ridiculous ending.
Edwards starred in a number of Westerns in the 1950s, including the much more interesting “The Dalton Girls” in the same year this film was released. She’d later appear in a number of Western TV series as well.
Directed by:
Charles Marquis Warren
Cast:
John Agar … Jeff Donner
Penny Edwards … Susan Crowley
John Pickard … Marshal James Thorne
Bing Russell … Cpl. Norman
Richard Shannon … Samuel
Charles Gray … Dory
Sheb Wooley … Jonathan Long
Rush Williams … Edwards
Richard Gilden … Francisco Gomez
Runtime: 80 min.
Memorable lines:
Donner: “I see. You’re a soldier.”
Susan: “In a way.”
Donner: “Yank or Rebel?”
Susan: “Why?”
Donner: “Because I’m General Grant, and you’d better salute me.”
Donner to Susan, after discovering a fellow Union spy stabbed in her room: “Thirty minutes after I met you was bad enough. Thirty seconds after I met him, he was dead.”
Donner: “Since I met you, I don’t trust anybody. I have to be very careful with you.”
Susan: “Why are you being careful with me if you don’t believe me?”
Donner: “Because you’re the only thing between me and a noose.”
Donner to Cpl. Norman: “Look now, you don’t really mean to kill Miss Crowley, do you? She’s too pretty to kill. She rides. She plays possum. She sings.”
Susan Crowley, stepping forward: “And I break very easy. You said that yourself, didn’t you?”
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