The Storm Rider (1957)

Scott Brady plays gunman Bart Jones, who rides into a town full of trouble during a dust storm.

Seems the biggest rancher around, Maj. Bonnard, wants to fence in the range. The small ranchers are afraid that will put them out of business.

When the small ranchers hear about how Jones manhandled one of Bonnard’s men upon arriving in town, they try to hire him to fight on their side.

He declines at first, but then Tay Rorick (Mala Powers) makes him an offer too good to refuse — his own ranch for $1.

Jones takes a liking to Tay, who’s a pretty popular widow. Sheriff Colton and her ex-brother-in-law, Harry Rorick, also have their eyes on her.

But Jones has a secret that could wreak havoc with his relationship with Tay and his alliance with the ranchers … he’s the man who killed Tay’s husband.

Meanwhile, the range war comes to a head when Maj. Bonnard sends for his own gunman, the Apache Kid.

Scott Brady as Bart Jones, the gunman who rides into town and decides to help the small ranchers in The Storm Rider (1957)

Mala Powers as the widow looking for someone to take her husband’s place, in more ways than one, in The Storm Rider (1957)

Review

Typical range war fare, which Brady can’t elevate, though the film does offer something of an atypical ending. The title comes from the fact that Brady’s character arrives in town in the middle of a raging dust storm.

One thing that doesn’t make sense — when he arrives in town, Bart Jones is warned by the sheriff that the friends of Red Jim Rorick are sure to want to get even with them.

“Lot of people around here would like to even things up with you for killing Jim Rorick,” he says. Yet the sheriff seems to be the only man in Ardwell who has any clue about who Jones is.

Bill William as Sheriff Pete Colton, warning gunman Bart Jones to leave town in The Storm Rider (1957)

Roy Engel as Major Bonnard, the cattle king trying to run out the smaller ranchers with his fences in The Storm Rider (1957)

Directed by:
Edward Bernds

Cast:
Scott Brady … Bart Jones
Mala Powers .. Tay Rorick
Bill Williams … Sheriff Pete Colton
John Goddard … Harry Rorick
William Fawcett … Capt. Cruikshank
Roy Engel … Major Bonnard
George Keymas … Apache Kid
Olin Howlin … Will Collins
Bud Osborne … Toby
James Dodson … Frank Cooper
Rocky Lundy … Bud Cooper
Hank Patterson … Tom Milstead
Wayne Mallory … Haneks
Courtland Shepard … Brass Flood
Frank Richards … Will Feylan

Runtime: 71 min.

William Fawcett as Capt. Cruickshank, trying to console Tay after she learns the truth about who killed her husband in The Storm Rider (1957)

John Goddard as Harry Rorick, his face showing the scratches from an encounter with Tay in The Storm Rider (1957)

Memorable lines:

Tay Rorick, about Bart Jones: “Does he have to go, captain?”
Captain: “Yes, honey. When he shot Red Jim, no matter how wrong Red Jim was, it meant that a dead man stood between you for all time. You won’t find it in any law book, but it’s deep in the heart of every decent man.”

Stableman: “This storm is one of the worst I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been around for a long time. Blew like this for five days back in ’68. Dust a foot deep on the main drag. Drifted just like snow.”

Jones: “Why would a girl like Tay ever pick Jim instead of a guy like you?”
Sheriff: “Now listen, Jones …”
Jones: “Don’t get touchy. I meant it right. You’re a good man, sheriff. Rorick wasn’t a man at all. He was a skin full of whiskey. A loudmouth with no guts.”

Jones, to a young boy: “Bud, I want you to listen to me. Times are changing, son. Ten, 15 years from now, when you’re a man, there won’t be any more gunfighters. They’ll all be dead. Or in jail. Or just plain all tamed down. That’s what I want to be: a plain old rancher, all tamed down.”

Scott Brady as Bart Jones, outlining a plan to best Bonnard while Capt. Cruickshank (William Fawcett) looks on in The Storm Rider (1957)

Olin Howlin as Will Collins, coming face to face with the Apache Kid in The Storm Rider (1957)

Bud Osborne as Toby Cooper, expressing the hope that he’ll someday be as good with a six-gun as Bart Jones in The Storm Rider (1957)

George Keymas as Apache Kid, the hired gun brought in by cattleman Major Bonnard in The Storm Rider (1957)

Bill Williams as Sheriff Pete Colton, expressing his own interest in Tay Rorick (Mala Powers) in The Storm Rider (1957)

Scott Brady as Bart Jones and Mala Powers as Tay Rorick, sparring in The Storm Rider (1957)