Even a cool sounding title can't salvage this extremely low budget effort from Poverty Row studio Normandy Pictures. Actually, the history of the picture is more noteworthy than the film itself. This was the first screen adaptation of a Three Mesquiteers novel by author William Colt MacDonald, and fans of that Western cowboy trio will recognize the names of the principal characters here with a slight modification. For starters, there are only two heroes - Tucson 'Two Gun' Smith portrayed by Big Boy Guinn Williams, and his partner Stoney Martin played by Al St. John before he came to be known as 'Fuzzy'. In the Three Mesquiteers film series which began in 1936, the Martin character became Stoney Brooke. That series lasted until 1943 churning out a total of forty three films with a rotating cast of principal players. Big Boy and Fuzzy didn't appear in any of them.
What makes this a lackluster picture is the lack of a credible story and generally poor acting, along with a fair amount of time filler provided by riders on horseback going back and forth. A couple of situations are just plain dumb if you really think about it. For one, there's a scene where Tucson confronts henchman Joe Sanchez (Martin Garralaga) about the identity of villain Rontel (Ted Adams), and Sanchez is shot by one of three riders atop a hill, presumably to prevent him from talking. Now if the goal was to take out the guy investigating the murder of local ranchers, why not just shoot Tucson who was standing right next to him? That just didn't make sense.
The other head scratcher was that whole business of Rontel forcing Englishman Sir Henry Sheffield to sign over power of attorney to him. Rontel kept him captive in his basement, but guess what - Sheffield just sat down there the whole time, he wasn't even tied up! Why didn't he just get up and leave?
Anyway, it doesn't take long for Tucson to corner outlaw lawyer Rontel, even if partner Stoney is put out of commission with a shot to the back. Who ever heard of shooting Fuzzy St. John in the back?! Actually, Fuzzy survives to join his partner again, and in keeping with B Western tradition, Tucson gets to ride off into the sunset with pretty Joan Hayden (Molly O'Day) while all the local ranchers owe the boys a debt of gratitude.
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