Tom Keene was a rarity among B Western stars in that he played different characters in each film he made. So when he turned up in this 1932 film as bandit leader Blackjack, the audience had no way of knowing he was really a U.S. Marshall working undercover. Keene and his team make a name for themselves preventing another gang of outlaws from holding up a stagecoach. As a result pretty Betty Allen (Rochelle Hudson) hires them to work on her father's ranch and take down the rustlers who've been cutting into their profits. Like Keene, Hudson was under contract to RKO Pictures. She was only 16 when she made the film (the studio added two years to her age to make her playing love scenes more palatable to the audience) and was still learning the ropes at the studio, starring in low-budget films, playing supporting roles in major pictures and providing the voice for Honey, the female lead in their Bosko cartoons. She would get her big break on loan to First National, where William Wellman cast her as one of the leads in his Wild Boys of the Road (1933).

By Frank Miller