This film offered a couple of firsts for me. I had never seen Jim Bannon as Red Ryder before, in fact, I don't think I've seen him in any movie role before. Add to that the fact that this was in Cinecolor, all the previous Red Ryder pictures I've seen starring Wild Bill Elliott or Rocky Lane were in black and white. There's something to be said for the color format, seeing as how Red Ryder wore a red shirt in this picture. Is that how he got his name? I doubt it, but it makes you wonder.
Actually, the entire core Red Ryder cast is new to me here. Don Reynolds, going by the name of Little Brown Jug portrayed Red's Indian mascot in this one. In every prior RR film I've seen it was young Robert Blake in the role. Ditto for the portrayal of The Duchess, Marin Sais here instead of Alice Fleming. I'm sort of partial to the earlier actors in the series, but the ones here did a creditable job as well. Rounding out the Painted Valley Ranch cast was Emmett Lynn as comedic sidekick Buckskin Blodgett.
The story involves a cowboy Red hires who's father lost his ranch betting on a rigged boxing match, and it looks like the same story might be repeated here, except for the fact that Red Ryder is on the case. The bad guys are led by Silver Dollar Saloon owner Bart Osborne (Marshall Reed), in cahoots with crooked boxing promoter Mark Palmer (John Hart). Coinciding with the fixed match that Red's guy (Don Haggerty) loses, is the holdup of the Eagle Pass stage office. Following a quick posse chase, Red challenges fighter Bull Mason (Lou Nova) to a match, as the local saloon crowd wins back the bets they lost the first time around. It all happens just a little too quickly to be credible, but the film makers had to get this in under an hour.
In just about any TV Western series you're likely to follow, you'll eventually wind up seeing the cowboy hero in some sort of boxing or bare knuckles match like the one presented here. I've seen a handful, and the one that comes closest to matching the script for this picture is the Laramie episode titled appropriately enough, 'Bare Knuckles'.
Actually, the entire core Red Ryder cast is new to me here. Don Reynolds, going by the name of Little Brown Jug portrayed Red's Indian mascot in this one. In every prior RR film I've seen it was young Robert Blake in the role. Ditto for the portrayal of The Duchess, Marin Sais here instead of Alice Fleming. I'm sort of partial to the earlier actors in the series, but the ones here did a creditable job as well. Rounding out the Painted Valley Ranch cast was Emmett Lynn as comedic sidekick Buckskin Blodgett.
The story involves a cowboy Red hires who's father lost his ranch betting on a rigged boxing match, and it looks like the same story might be repeated here, except for the fact that Red Ryder is on the case. The bad guys are led by Silver Dollar Saloon owner Bart Osborne (Marshall Reed), in cahoots with crooked boxing promoter Mark Palmer (John Hart). Coinciding with the fixed match that Red's guy (Don Haggerty) loses, is the holdup of the Eagle Pass stage office. Following a quick posse chase, Red challenges fighter Bull Mason (Lou Nova) to a match, as the local saloon crowd wins back the bets they lost the first time around. It all happens just a little too quickly to be credible, but the film makers had to get this in under an hour.
In just about any TV Western series you're likely to follow, you'll eventually wind up seeing the cowboy hero in some sort of boxing or bare knuckles match like the one presented here. I've seen a handful, and the one that comes closest to matching the script for this picture is the Laramie episode titled appropriately enough, 'Bare Knuckles'.
