Deadwood Pass

Tom Tyer sets the stage early on, "Askin questions is dangerous sometimes". Mileaway (Edmund Cobb) is not far away from the action. Tom Tyler and Alice Dahl have a great opening scene with a runaway stagecoach being chased by outlaws. Postal Inspector (Hal Taliaferro) catches up with "The Hawk" but he escapes with Sheriff Rawlins (Lafe McKee) hot on his trail. Some great western originals here including Blackie Whiteford, Buffalo Bill Jr., Slim Whitaker, Bud Osborne and W.C. Fields paramour Carlotta Monti. The suspense mounts so Tyler has to work fast as the real Hawk escaped from prison and his pal The Chief (J.P. McGowan) wants to throw lead at our hero.

Tom Tyler, a once very popular Western hero comes across as both likable and strong. In this outing Tom is a postal inspector who poses as the notorious Hawk, a thief who has just escaped from jail. Both the good guys and the bad guys are looking for the $200,000 in securities that the Hawk hid in, it is assumed, Deadwood Pass. The best action sequence is when Tom takes over for the stagecoach driver killed by bandits. Tom not only drives the stagecoach at top speed but he turns around and shoots a couple of bandits off their horses. Although a bit far fetched, it still is a good scene. Although there are a number of familiar names in the supporting cast neither they nor the personable Tom could raise this movie above the pedestrian. There's no humor or any memorable dialog and the leading lady (Alice Dahl playing the Sheriff's daughter) gives a bland and stilted performance. Not one of the best Tom Tyler Westerns.

Tom Tyler saves the stagecoach with pretty Terry Walker on board. But as soon as he rides into town, he's identified as the Hawk, recently escaped from prison and headed to Deadwood Pass, where he's supposed to have hidden $200,000 in bond. After he shoots Marshall Hal Taliaferro, he's given entree to the Pass, after agreeing to split with the bad guys. Back in the Pass, Slim Whitaker (playing Butch Cassidy) is suspicious, as he well might be. Taliaferro wasn't shot, and Tyler is actually a postal inspector, trying to recover the bonds. But he better hurry, because the real Hawk, played by Bud Osborne, has really escaped, and has just passed the border into the state.

It starts with an excellently shot assortment of stuntwork and soon settles down into a well constructed story, even if director J. P. McGowan has to rely more on his good relations with cowboy stars from the silent era than any real ability in directing sound films on a Gower Gulch budget. Still, DP Edward Kull offers good action sequences.

Deadwood Pass is both the title and scene of the action of this Tom Tyler western. Tom's a postal inspector on the trail of a notorious outlaw 'The Hawk' who has escaped from state prison. It is thought that the real Hawk played by western regular Bud Osborne would make for Deadwood Pass where it is rumored he hid a fortune in stolen bonds that he had robbed.

But using the pass as his headquarters is the notorious Butch Cassidy and his gang without the Sundance Kid. Played by Slim Whittaker, Butch ain't letting nobody in his stronghold lest it be the real Hawk. And we know him by his Hawk tattoo on his right wrist.

So Tyler gets a hawk tattoo on his right wrist, but the question is can he keep up the disguise before the real article gets to Deadwood Pass.

This is a decent enough Poverty Row western, but it's known for an appearance in a small role by Carlota Monti, W.C. Fields's live-in girl friend. That might also give non-western fans a reason to look at this film.