Young Dan Light is off fishing one day when Indians attack his home, killing his parents and prompting his prized white pony, later named Top Kick, to flee.
As the young boy is burying his parents, a horse trader named John Wintergreen (Edgar Buchanan) rides by. He takes Dan under his wing. The youth spends part of his time living with Maj. Cullen and his daughter Caroline at the nearby fort. When school isn’t in session, he rides along with Wintergreen as he captures wild horses for the cavalry.
As the boy turns into a man (which is where Ben Johnson enters the picture), he has one obsession — finding and taming that white stallion, the only remaining piece of his childhood.
The major wants him to attend West Point, train to become an officer and settle down. The major’s now grown daughter (Martha Hyer) would like that, too. But Dan is determined to find that pony that ran away years earlier.
Review:
Decent “horse” Western that benefits from a solid cast, with Buchanan particularly effective in his role as the aging horse trainer who eventually joins the cavalry himself.
Dan Haggerty is the villain of the piece as a sergeant who mistreats the horses he’s taming. And, of course, there are several twists and turns and scares where Top Kick is concerned, including one scene where he fights off a pack of wolves to protect Dan Light.
Hugh Beamont has a minor role as the captain who would like Top Kick for his own. He would go on to star as Ward Cleaver, the father in the hit series Leave It to Beaver (1957-1963).
Directed by:
Lewis D. Collins
Cast:
Ben Johnson … Dan Light
Edgar Buchanan … John Wintergreen
Martha Hyer … Caroline Cullen
Hayden Rorke … Major Cullen
Hugh Beaumont … Capt. Wilmurt
Don Haggerty … Sgt. Keach
I. Stanford Jolley … Bill Cole
Orley Lindgren … Dan as child
Susan Odin … Caroline as child
John Halloran .. John Light
Barbara Woodell … Abigail Light
Runtime: 70 min.
Memorable lines:
John Wintergreen: “Say, you got a nice touch with horses. You aren’t afraid of them, are you?”
A young Dan Light: “No, I like them.”
Wintergreen: “I can see that. I like them, too. Always have. Some of them are a lot nicer than the people who ride them.”
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