Forrest Tucker is Frank Townsend, a cavalry captain heading West with his fiance aboard a stagecoach. When the stage reaches a way station, Mexican bandit Lorenzo Gracia is waiting.
He wants the gold shipment he thinks is aboard the coach. As it turns out, it isn’t. The gold is being delivered to the way station for transportation by stagecoach from there.
So the bandits hold Townsend, his fiance Ann, stage driver Tim O’Connors, Judge Farrell and a young fast gun named Ralph Slader hostage while they await the arrival of the gold.
Townsend quickly realizes what the other passengers don’t; that unless they find some way to escape, they’ll all be killed, because Garcia won’t want any witnesses to robbing a government gold shipment.
Review:
Not bad little B Western that provides an interesting twist to the main plot by giving us a glimpse of some of the passengers checkered pasts via flashback while they’re being held hostage.
Those passengers include pretty Barbara Duval, who tried to charm a young gunman into killing her husband so she could make off with the husband’s fortune; and Slader, whose reputation with a gun started when he ambushed a town marshal.
Claxton later became a director of TV shows, including more than 50 episodes of Bonanza and 68 episodes of Little House on the Prairie.
Directed by:
William F. Claxton
Cast:
Forrest Tucker … Frank Townsend
Mari Blanchard … Barbara Duval
Wallace Ford … Judge Lester Farrell
Rodolfo Hoyos Jr. … Lorenzo Gracia
Paul Fix … Tim O’Connors
Leslie Banning … Ann Stewart
Rico Alaniz … Miquel Torres
Wright King … Ralph Slader
Margia Dean … Ruth
Ian MacDonald … Sheriff Ross
William Phillips … Harold
Ellen Corby … Sarah Farrell
Alex Montoya … Oro
Rayford Barnes … Zick
Runtime: 75 min.
Memorable lines:
Miguel to Townsend: “You have a brave heart, gringo. I’ll cut it out for you.”
Gracia, speaking about Barbara Duval: “The eyes, they are the windows of the soul. And these are such dirty windows. There’s much evil hidden behind them.”
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