“Law of the Canyon”

“The latter days of the 19th century saw the West torn by turbulence and strife, invaded by desperadoes and bandits. Before this onslaught, Justice faltered and the Law stood helpless. Life was filled with terror and no man could trust another. Then, into the turmoil and havoc of lawlessness, a mysterious figure rose up and came to the people’s aid. They called him…The Durango Kid!”

I like this opening narration, intoned over images of gunfights and wagon attacks and so forth, ending with the rousing image of The Kid atop his rearing white stallion. Two of the films I’ve seen so far open with it.

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

In this 1947 installment of the Durango Kid saga, Steve Langtry is a citified “dude” who says things like “unhand me” and “fight back? why, someone might get hurt or even killed!” We meet him travelling by wagon to Jackson City to open a store there. When the wagon is hijacked at Skeleton Pass, he is winged in the hand and passes out at the sight of his own blood. Smiley comes upon the bound and gagged victim and his co-riders, greets him with a familiar “Steve”, but Langtry appears not to know him and calls him “stranger” repeatedly. (Pssst. Don’t worry, it’s just an act…)

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

It’s fun watching Charley play a stuffed shirt coward. When he runs from a fight shouting “save me! save me!” in his deep baritone — it’s beautiful. Not only does it remind one of the Clark Kent / Superman dynamic, it’s just nice to have some distinction between Steve and The Kid other than the color of their duds.

Juicy plot. Thematic narrative right out of “Morte D’ Arthur” or TS Elliot’s “The Wasteland.” Ya know, the whole ‘the king is sick, the land lies fallow’ stuff. Fred Sears as Doc Middleton takes the narration at its word, especially the ‘Justice falters and the Law stands helpless’ bit. He is doping Sheriff Coleman and keeping him “sick” so that his “Hood Gang” can run amok on Skeleton Pass, and he can collect the ransom for their ill-gotten goods.

Doc Middleton also gets the best line in the piece, “Go find me the Durango Kid. I never went to medical school, but I think I could do a little surgery on him.”

The whole wimpy Steve routine turns out to be an elaborate ruse, of course. But why? And who is bank-rolling this?

Smiley answers it all in the last scene. “Steve is a Government Secret Agent. I knowed it all along!”

I guess I missed that day in American History, when we studied the chapter on the post-Confederate Government Agency that sent Secret Agents into the western states to clear up local problems. “Steve, get in here. I hope you brought your black mask, cuz we’ve got a hot one for you this time. We need you to clean up a mess outside of Jackson City. You’ve got to clear Skeleton Pass!” “Right, Control. I’ll need two wagons stocked full of store supplies, $2000 in ransom money, another three wagons to arrive in 2 weeks. And, of course, complete immunity for any crime I may commit along the way.” “Done.” “One question. What’s my name this time?”

“Langtry. Steve Langtry.”

Co-stars a young Robert “Buzz” Henry who became a great stunt man, and Zon Murray who played a heavy in eight DK films.

Smiley has an uncooperative water pump to work off. And, if that’s not enough, he also has a Gold-finding machine (oh well, it worked for Joseph Smith.)

Music by Texas Jim Lewis and his Lone Star Cowboys. Texas Jim is about as big as my thumb.