“Kid From Broken Gun”

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

It was with high hopes that I prepared to watch the last Durango Kid film.

In this final installment of the epic 65 film series, all questions would be answered, all mysteries revealed.

What is the origin of the Durango Kid?

Who does he really work for?

What is Steve’s true name?

What is his relationship with Smiley?

Where is his hide-out?

How does he change outfits so fast?

I expected big things.  I expected that the Kid would probably die.  Or Smiley would die!  That’s it, Smiley would die!  Durango would take off the mask and Smiley would die!  What a finale!

It was not to be.

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

The opening titles of this 1952 film are over a card I’ve never seen before in the series.  It is of a lake with a tree on the distant shore.  A small fire burns in the foreground.  A single, thin column of smoke dissects the frame, pointing out, perhaps, the duality of the Steve/Durango schism.

Also, a first in the series: two writers.  Barry Shipman and Ed Earl Repp, both veterans of the Durango Kid gig.  The “Kid From Broken Gun” is directed, fittingly, by Fred S. Sears, who began playing a villain and ended up directing a good number of the films.

Prologue reads:  “‘If a man be proven guilty of murder, let him hang by the neck until dead.’  So read the law West of the Pecos (they couldn’t resist getting in one last set of vague directions) in the late 1870s.”

The film is set almost entirely in, groan, a courtroom.  Jack Mahoney is on trail.  Jack is the “Kid From Broken Gun”, his old boxing alias.  It’s odd that in a film featuring a “Durango Kid” there would be room for another “Kid.”

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Steve Reynolds and Smiley are friends with Jack.  No job titles in this one.  They’re just FOJ: friends of Jack.

The trial set-up is a bit to allow flashbacks to actions from previous films, especially the poorly titled “Fighting Frontiersman”.  This is a cost-cutting technique that the filmmakers have used before, and used with more and more frequency as the series got longer and the budgets got smaller.

When Steve finally gets involved in the story (maybe 20 minutes in), he does a few things.  He remarks to Smiley about the female defense attorney having “a certain family resemblance.”  As Durango, he discovers a familiar looking coin.  He also discovers that the mysterious owner of the missing gold shipment is someone named “CD.”  He tells Smiley that their lives are in danger “if it’s the CD I think it is.”

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

CD turns out to stand for “Cimmaron Dobbs”, the old prospector from the film that should have been titled “The Curse of Santa Ana’s Gold” or something cool like that, but is, in fact, entitled “Frighting Frontiersman.” The defense attorney (Angela Stevens) is the sister of the crooked showgirl in that picture.

The best line in the film comes when Steve is sworn in to testify.  The prosecutor objects, saying that the trial won’t get anywhere if they stop to listen to “every Tom, Dick and Harry.”  In the gallery, Smiley scoffs: “Aw, his name ain’t Tom, Dick or Harry!  His name is Steve!”

Yes it is, Smiley.

The weirdest moment occurs when Steve, on the stand, reveals the coin which Durango discovered.  The prosecutor: “If the Durango Kid found it, how is it you have it?”  Steve (with a wink): “Maybe Durango dropped it.”

What are we to make of that?

Charles looks long in the tooth.  He squints a lot, maybe a sign of the advancing diabetic condition which would ultimately leave him blind.  He’s still slim and athletic.  He does seem to move a little slower, a little stiffer.

The recycled footage in the flashbacks is long on Durango, and short on Steve.  Unfortunately, Durango is primarily played by stuntmen (including co-star Jack Mahoney), so there is very little Charles in this major part of the film.

In the actual narrative, Steve, having testified, leaves town and the movie for over 1o minutes.  Like I said, very little Charles in this.  Which is a shame for his swan song.

Smiley has a weird dream where he plays all the members of the trial — the judge, jury members, prosecutor, the accused.  Also, we get more of the tough guy routine from Smiley: “Durango will shoot you so full of holes you’ll whistle in the wind.”

And with that, the fat man headed back to Gene Autry for six pictures, then became a regular guest on “Green Acres” followed by a reoccurring role on “Petticoat Junction.”

Jack Mahoney is acquitted, thanks to some gunpoint justice in the courtroom.  Though Columbia seemed to be grooming him to take over the series, it never happened.  The next year he began his 77 TV episode run as “The Range Rider.”

And Charley?  He rode off into the sunset, traveling the world with his wife and splitting his retirement between Laguna and Borrego Springs.

And now we must say goodbye to the Durango Kid.  He’s been a part of cinema history, and a part of the audience’s lives for eight years and sixty-five films.

The final lines of the film, and thus the series?  Here they are:

Steve: “Jack, I guess the next time you’ll think twice before you look at a pretty face again.”

Jack:  “There isn’t going to be a next time, Steve.  I’m never going to look at a pretty girl again as lo….”

Girl passes.  Jack preens and follows.

Smiley:  “Now that’s what I like, a man of his word.”

Steve and Smiley laugh.  Fade out.  The End.

Not exactly the poetic summation I was waiting for.  (see blog entry: The Last Durango Kid Film).  But Jack’s right.  “There isn’t going to be a next time, Steve….”

List of Steve’s Surnames

Title	Release Date	Charles’ name
Kid from Broken Gun	1952	Steve Reynolds
Junction City	1952	Steve Rollins
Rough, Tough West	1952	Steve Holden
Laramie Mountains	1952	Steve Holden
Hawk of Wild River	1952	Steve Martin
Smoky Canyon	1952	Steve Brent
Pecos River	1951	Steve Baldwin
Kid from Amarillo	1951	Steve Ransom
Cyclone Fury	1951	Steve Reynolds
Bonanza Town	1951	Steve Ramsay
Snake River Desperadoes	1951	Steve Reynolds
Fort Savage Raiders	1951	Steve Drake
Ridin’ the Outlaw Trail	1951	Steve Forsythe
Prairie Roundup	1951	Steve Carson
Lightning Guns	1950	Steve Brandon
Frontier Outpost	1950	Steve Lawton
Raiders of Tomahawk Creek	1950	Steve Blake
Across the Badlands	1950	Steve Ransom
Streets of Ghost Town	1950	Steve Woods
Texas Dynamo	1950	Steve Drake
Outcasts of Black Mesa	1950	Steve Norman
Trail of the Rustlers	1950	Steve Armitage
Renegades of the Sage	1949	Steve Duncan
Horsemen of the Sierras	1949	Steve Saunders
Bandits of El Dorado	1949	Steve Carson
South of Death Valley	1949	Steve Downing
The Blazing Trail	1949	Steve Allen
Laramie	1949	Steve Holden
Desert Vigilante	1949	Steve Woods
Challenge of the Range	1949	Steve Roper
Quick on the Trigger	1948	Steve Warren
El Dorado Pass	1948	Steve
Trail to Laredo	1948	Steve Ellison
Blazing Across the Pecos	1948	Steve Blake
Whirlwind Raiders	1948	Steve Lanning
West of Sonora	1948	Steve Rollins
Phantom Valley	1948	Steve
Six-Gun Law	1948	Steve Norris
Last Days of Boot Hill	1947	Steve Waring
Buckaroo from Powder River	1947	Steve Lacey
Riders of the Lone Star	1947	Steve Mason
Stranger from Ponca City	1947	Steve Larkin
Prairie Raiders	1947	Steve Bolton
Law of the Canyon	1947	Stave Langtry
West of Dodge City	1947	Steve Ramsey
Lone Hand Texan	1947	Steve Driscoll
South of the Chisholm Trail	1947	Steve Haley
Fighting Frontiersman	1946	Steve Reynolds
Terror Trail	1946	Steve Haverley
Landrush	1946	Steve Harmon
Heading West	1946	Steve Randall
Desert Horseman	1946	Steve Godgrey
Two-Fisted Stranger	1946	Steve Gordon
Galloping Thunder	1946	Steve Reynolds
Gunning for Vengeance	1946	Steve Landry
Roaring Rangers	1946	Steve Randall
Frontier Gunlaw	1945	Jim Stewart
Texas Panhandle	1945	Steve Buckner
Lawless Empire	1945	Steve Ranson
Blazing the Western Trail	1945	Jeff Waring
Outlaws of the Rockies	1945	Steve Williams
Rustlers of the Badlands	1945	Steve Lindsay
Both Barrels Blazing	1945	Kip Allen
Return of the Durango Kid	1945	Bill Blayden
Rough Ridin’ Justice	1945	Steve Holden
Sagebrush Heroes	1945	Stave Randall
Saddle Leather Law	1944	Steve Carlisle
Cyclone Prairie Rangers	1944	Steve Travis
Cowboy from Lonesome River	1944	Steve Randall
Riding West	1944	Steve Jordan
Sundown Valley	1944	Steve Denton
Cowboy Canteen	1944	Steve Bradley
Cowboy in the Clouds	1943	Steve Kendall
Hail to the Rangers	1943	Steve McKay
Robin Hood of the Range	1943	Steve
Frontier Fury	1943	Steve Langdon
Law of the Northwest	1943	Steve King
Fighting Buckaroo	1943	Steve Harrison
Pardon My Gun	1942	Steve Randall
Riding Through Nevada	1942	Steve Lowrey
Overland to Deadwood	1942	Steve Prescott
Bad Men of the Hills	1942	Steve Carlton
Riders of the Northland	1942	Steve Bowie
Down Rio Grande Way	1942	Steve Martin
Lawless Plainsmen	1942	Steve Rideen
West of Tombstone	1942	Steve Langdon
Riders of the Badlands	1941	Steve Langdon
Royal Mounted Patrol	1941	Tom Jeffries
Prairie Stranger (a Medico film)	1941	Steven Monroe
Thunder Over the Prairie (a Medico film)	1941	Steven Monroe
Medico of Painted Springs (a Medico film)	1941	Steven Monroe

The Count Pauses at 115

1950’s “Frontier Outpost” is the last Charles Starrett film that I have been able to find.  In fact, it is the last of the 115 films currently available on DVD or VHS or any other format.   I know.  I’ve looked.

In the coming months, TCM has promised to add at least two more films to that library.

Never fear, dear reader, I will review them as soon as they air!

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

“Frontier Outpost”

Over lunch with my friend Rodney Ascher the other day, I was complaining, as I often do during our lunch meetings, about the lack of continuity in Charles Starrett’s character in the Durango Kid series; you know, how he’s always got a different last name, a different job, a different relationship with Smiley.

I was shaking my head with familiar frustration when Rodney pointed out something that had never occured to me: that the only constant, in fact, in these films is the Durango Kid himself.  That, therefore, the Durango Kid was the true identity and the Steve character was the mask that he put on.

115 films and I never once thought of it that way.  But then, that’s why we call Rodney “The Doctor”!

I will now attempt to discuss 1950’s “Frontier Outpost” from that perspective.  It’s going to be tough, but here goes nothing:

The Durango Kid is masquerading this time as Steve Lawton, who has some unstated military relationship with a Major Copeland (played by Fred Sears).   In the opening sequence, Durango robs a stagecoach of a shipment of gold, then appears in Steve disguise to return it to the Major.

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Later, Copeland and the other passengers on the stagecoach discover a mysteriously deserted fort.  He tells the rest of the riders that “Steve and Smiley have been assigned to me” to help find out about more gold shipments that have been going missing.

The Major doesn’t know that the Durango Kid is posing as Steve.  Smiley seems to know.  When the Major is killed, Durango, in the guise of Steve, reports Copeland’s death to Colonel Warrick who says “you’re not only an outlaw, you’re a crazy outlaw.”  Durango, still disguised as Steve, is arrested for the Major’s death.

The obese Smiley with his OCD involving food consumption tries to free Durango in a number of half-assed ways that generally include singing.

Once freed, Durango is able to shed the Steve disguise momentarily and ride to the rescue of the folks at the fort.  In the end, he adopts the Steve persona one last time to receive a well-deserved apology from the Colonel.  With that behind him, he sheds the Steve Lawton persona forever.

And off Durango rides, off to another adventure, where he will don another disguise, with a completely different identity,  job, and name.

Except that his first name will again be “Steve.”

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

William S. Hart House & Museum

William S. Hart’s retirement home in Newhall, which he occupied from 1926-1946, is now home to the museum bearing his name.  From the literature present we learned that Hart left a sizeable endowment to insure that the spread would always be open to the public.

And the public does seem to come by.  We arrived before noon (the museum has odd hours, call or check their website first) and were surprised to find a half-dozen folks leaving and another half-dozen waiting on the next tour.

And neither group seemed to be particularly cowboy fans.  A mix of out-of-towners and local folks.  A mystery.

Bring your walking shoes.  The tour itself is short, but the walk to the museum is a HIKE!  It’s up a steep “nature trail” past the animal cemetery where Fritz joins Hart’s dogs in their everlasting slumber.  And if you are planning on pushing a baby carriage up there, I’d think again.  I was fortunate enough to have my burly buddy Josh along to help me carry the thing over loose gravel.

The house itself is very nice, and well preserved.  The docent knew a lot about the fixtures, but very little about the man himself, and next to nothing about his films.  A security gaurd followed us the entire time.

They also have a gift shop.  They sell a lot of general western-themed stuff and a few books on WSH.  A couple of his DVDs too.  They also have DVDS for Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Ken Maynard, Johnny Mack Brown, Hoot Gibson…just about everyone but Charley Starrett.  Which doesn’t seem fair, seeing how CS was his biggest fan.

The museum’s website has all the information, including directions.  They host some summer films under the stars as well.  Nicely maintained place with some fun stuff to see.

And somebody I happen to know had a great time.