Brothers in the Saddle

It was like watching two professional wrestlers, as brothers Tim and Steve bash on each other. Ain't that just what brothers do? C'm on; not at THIS age. And what's a Holt movie without Richard Martin? - one of more than thirty times as sidekick Chito. Initially Steve kills a fellow card-player, who draws first, as seen by Flora. But, to convict Steve, the dead man's partner coerces her to vamoose to Mexico, from where Tim and Chito return her. While he's waiting for them to bring her back, Steve robs a stagecoach, a passenger on which is the gambling partner, who Steve murders. Hearing this, Tim can no longer tolerate Steve's behavior, and the sibling rivalry goes into high gear. I should also mention the character, Nancy, from whom Steve mooches much lucre to support his gaming habit, even though he's engaged to her. She owns the ranch on which the three guys work. There are other Holt/Martin collaborations which I've enjoyed more.

Tim holt plays.... cowboy tim holt, with his usual sidekick chito (richard martin). When his brother steve (brodie) gets into trouble, tim is willing to help out, until he hears that steve is up to no good. Will the brothers look out for each other no matter what? Flora (carol forman) the one witness that can save steve has run off so she doesn't have to testify. Fistfights. Horse chases. Some scenes filmed at garner ranch, near idyllwild, up in the mountains of southern cal. The film is pretty good. Your basic good versus evil, western cowboy justice. Can the truth be told before they come after steve? Directed by les selander, king of the westerns. And tv series, including lassie. Story by norm houston. They made a ton of films together. Tim holt died pretty young of cancer, at 54.

Bad boy Steve Taylor is pulled out of a saloon by his brother Tim after Steve kills cheating poker player Hoyt Parker in self defense. Steve, who's been financing his gambling addiction with money from his fiancée, is convinced by Tim to give himself up for trial. Found guilty without crucial testimony of his innocence by saloon girl Flora Trigby, who has fled to Mexico, the two brothers make their getaway to a secret hideout, where Tim heads out to find Flora. Tim's enthusiasm for protecting his brother lessens when he returns with Flora and learns someone matching Steve's description has held up the stage and killed passenger Nash Prescott, Parker's co-partner and Steve's chief accuser at the trial.

A different kind of Tim Holt and Chito Rafferty western with Chito taking a slight backseat. It's similar to Saddle the Wind, a brother gone bad story - the bad brother here is Steve Brodie and Holt plays his brother. At first, Brodie's first killing is in self-defence, the second one not so. There's some good conflict, and a few vigorous fistfight. A neat scene where lightning the horse helps Tim. He grabs the stirrup and he pulls him out of the dust. The film ends inevitably with Brodie getting his just deserts. A nice intense shootout.

If you've read my review I've considered Tim Holt's westerns at RKO to be a cut above the usual B westerns. Brothers In The Saddle is a cut above them and could easily have been done on an A budget by some major league stars.

Tim has a brother in this one played by Steve Brodie and while Tim is a straight arrow, Brodie is no good. He's a degenerate gambler and not very good at it. He borrows money from his bride to be Virginia Cox who Tim would have liked to wed on false pretenses.

One night he catches the guys who've been cheating him all along and drills one of them in a fair fight. But he's arrested for murder anyway and Tim Holt and Richard Martin do a most un-Holt thing and spring him from jail while they look for a missing witness.

In the meantime Brodie decides he likes the outlaw life and goes on a crime spree of his own. In the end Holt and Martin can't go to the well for him once again.

Two other westerns dealing with good and bad brothers come to mind, Winchester 73 and Saddle The Wind. Both had the major star power of James Stewart and Robert Taylor respectively and the class A production values that Universal and MGM could provide.

RKO was quite daring in this film as things happen to both Tim and Richard Martin's character of the happy go lucky Chito Jose Gonzalez Bustamante Rafferty that never happened in any other of their films I've seen. The studio must have got a lot of angry mail from fans wanting to know why the norm was deviated from in this Tim Holt western.

But seen today Brothers In The Saddle holds up very well as Holt and Brodie give standout performances as rival siblings.

More dramatic entry than usual. Most of the action involves Tim's wayward brother Steve (Brodie) who seems caught in a vortex of crime that he either can't or won't get out of. Good thing both Brodie and Holt had feature film experience because their roles here require solid acting. And both come through in compelling fashion. Then too, Chito is Chito, often amusing but never in a clownish way.

There's plenty of flying fists, and enough broken furniture to stock a hotel. Not much hard riding, though Tim's clever mount Lightning gets him out of a tight jam—(was Lightning vying for Roy Rogers' Trigger for top Palomino). There's some fast shooting but not much—note that Tim actually aims his shot at movie's end, something matinée shootouts seldom bothered with. Note also that Tim puffs on a pipe at one point—the first time I think I've seen a matinée hero actually smoke. Anyway, some good LA-area scenery and a good story add up to a better than average Holt-Martin 60-minutes.

An "8" on the Matinée Scale.