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John (John Wayne) sees his father being shot in a holdup before his
very eyes, and when pursuing the culprits, he himself catches two bullets
- but manages to pull through thanks to his best friend Ben (Reed Howes)
and Ben's girlfriend Alice (Marion Burns). Thing is, while nursing John
back to health, Alice falls in love with John. And the other thing is,
once healthy enough, it doesn't take John long to find out who the killer
of his father was: Alice's brother Rod (Dennis Moore). And after much to
and fro, John has to find himself not only pitted against Rod and his
accomplice, the saloon owner (Yakima Canutt), but also against his best
pal Ben, who sees to it that John goes to his final shootout with Rod and
company with an empty gun ... and only just in time does he have second
thoughts, and he saves John from an ambush, even if it costs him his own
life. And in the end, John and Alice marry. Like most John
Wayne films from his stint at Monogram, this one's pretty good, a
love triangle done wild west style, with plenty of chases, shootouts, and
fistfights, all nicely photographed by Archie Stout and perfectly paced
and directed (considering the rushed shooting schedule and low budget) by
Robert N.Bradbury. Add to this some breathtaking stuntwork Yakima Canutt
style and you are left with one very fine B-Western.
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