Prolific Western writer Ford Beebe ended his half-century big-screen career with this appealing family Western. After writing 127 films, mostly Westerns, and directing almost 100 films, including Buck Rogers (1939) and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940), he certainly knew how to keep things moving. In his last script, he deals with the plight of a widowed rancher (Diane Brewster) trying to raise $500 so she can keep her ranch. Her amorous foreman (George Montgomery) does everything he can to thwart the machinations of evil range boss Emile Meyer, but the real key lies in the hands of Brewster's son, who has captured a notorious black stallion with a $500 bounty on its head. Beebe had stopped directing four years earlier, so those honors went to another prolific B moviemaker, R.G. Springsteen. Their leading man, Montgomery, was also a veteran of low-budget Westerns, which were his bread and butter despite occasional forays into top studio product with films like Orchestra Wives (1942) and Coney Island (1943). But villain Meyer was probably the best qualified for his role, having played the evil rancher who hires gunman Jack Palance in Shane (1953).

By Frank Miller