User Reviews

I guess I shouldn't be surprised anymore when I see something in an old Western that I haven't seen before. In "Fast Bullets", hero Tom Tyler takes two henchmen off their horses while giving chase in an early scene. He uses something of a domino effect where he knocks one outlaw off his horse into the other riding alongside. Both go down as Tyler continues the fight on the ground with both baddies.

A lot of times these B flicks have nothing at all to do with their titles, but it appears the film makers overcame that by having the main bad guy Travis (Al Bridge) use the term 'fast bullets' not once, but twice to describe Tyler. His character Tom Hilton was a Texas Ranger attempting to uncover the gang that was smuggling contraband and explosives across the territory.

In the story, Ranger Tom enlists the aid of gang member Jimmy (Rex Lease) after capturing him along with a couple other Travis men. Hilton convinces Jimmy that a life of crime would only bring about his downfall, and that he was still young enough to change the direction of his life. Tom kept calling him a youngster so many times that I had to check for myself, since Jimmy didn't look any younger than Tom to me. Wouldn't you know it, Rex Lease and Tom Tyler were both the same age when they made this picture. It always makes me wonder about the way they made casting decisions back then.

The one scene that looks entirely out of place here is that energetic dance number done by Margaret Nearing in the saloon sequence. Her character is Joan, sister of Jimmy, who winds up as the romantic interest for Tyler's character by the time it's all over. Actually, I couldn't decide what was more surprising, the dance itself or the skimpy dress she wore doing the routine. She sure didn't fit the mold of your standard Western saloon gal.

I won't tell you how it ends, other than allowing the good guys win out over the bad guys. The one hint I can give is that Tyler's group uses the 'bunch of dummies' gimmick to win the day. You'll just have to see it.

"Fast Bullets" was originally released back in 1936.

Anyway - As the story goes - The Texas Rangers have targeted a gang of munitions smugglers in the hopes of bringing the rogues to justice. Hoping to get the job done from the inside, Ranger Tom goes undercover and joins the smugglers.

Higher notch than normal for this enjoyable B western about Texas Ranger Tom Tyler going out of his way to rehabilitate bandit Rex Lease and capture the ringleader, Al Bridge. To accomplish that, he must pose as a wannabee bandit and gain the gang's trust. In just under an hour, there's a Tom of action and one truly suspenseful moment when Lease is chosen to kill the exposed Tyler. Margaret Neering is the tough on the outside, all girlie on the inside, offspring of the villain who must choose right from wrong. Just one of the dozen or so western that year, and a great double bill for me along with "Coyote Trails", available as part of a 50 set western through budget DVD distributor Millcreek.

There is a red herring thrown in at the beginning when the ranger who is working with Tom just happens to disappear at pivotal moments. Tom Tyler (who else) plays Ranger Tom, who is working under cover to trap some munitions smugglers. In a no holds barred fight Tom captures two but the ring leader, Travis, eludes him. Rex Lease is Jimmy, strangely referred to throughout the movie as "kid" even though, as one reviewer says, he and Tyler are the same age and, if anything, Tyler looks the more youthful.

By offering the "kid" his freedom, he finds a willing partner who is determined to lead Tom to Travis. Jimmy introduces them but also confesses his true motive to his sister Joan who begs Tom to keep Jimmy on the straight and narrow. Margaret Nearing is terrific as Joan (you don't often get to say that of a girl in westerns) who is introduced doing a very energetic tap dance. Things come to a head when one of the captured men escapes and recognises Tom, who is now part of the gang, as the Ranger who captured him. Jimmy is given a note for the Rangers, to lead them into a trap, and he approaches the task with such gusto that even Tom has doubts whether he has turned "baddie" again.

Rex Lease had been a handsome leading man as much at home in the saddle as in high society but as the 30s progressed his looks became more rugged until, by the 40s, he often found himself playing the villain to Gene Autry or Roy Rogers hero. Margaret Nearing had a short career of mostly uncredited bits, even though she came from a circus background and as a child entertained the W.W. 1 troops. With her blonde good looks she should have had a bigger career but after "Fast Bullets" she married and moved to Hawaii.