Blazing Sixes

Although small studios like PRC, Monogram and Republic are often associated with B-westerns, some of the big studios made Bs as well. Paramount made the Hopalong Cassidy films and Warner Brothers made quite a few starring Dick Foran...such as "Blazing Sixes".

The story begins on a VERY familiar note....the stagecoach is being held up by a gang of baddies. However, unlike most gangs, the leader, Jim Hess (who LOOKS evil, by the way), has a great scheme. Instead of letting his men spend the gold (and risk capture), he has the gold melted down...making it impossible to identify.

In the next scene, Red Barton (Foran) is being sent to infiltrate the mob and find out where all that gold has gotten to. And, interestingly, his sidekick is Glenn Strange...a guy who nearly always plays villains in westerns (particularly the Cassidy films). What is NOT welcome are the women, as one of them is horrible and easy to hate and the other is just annoying! It's obvious the writer had no idea how to write women and it's by far the most negative thing about an otherwise decent and enjoyable western. The SMARTER of the two dumb women announces to the baddie at the end that "I'm going to go get the Sheriff" when she discovers who the baddie is!! This only guarantees that she'll soon be assuming room temperature unless the hero manages to save her....and by then I was praying he'd arrive too late!

Blazing Sixes, referring of course to the weaponry of the old west, has Dick Foran starring as a Treasury agent out west investigating a string of gold robberies. In those days the Treasury printed $20.00 gold pieces and this gang has been robbing stagecoaches carrying same.

The only clue they have is that the money is not being spent anywhere so it's hidden in a certain general vicinity. Foran gets in with the suspected leader John Merton who has his headuarters at an abandoned ranch.

The only problem is that the place is about to become unabandoned as Joan Valerie and Mira McKinney claim it as an inheritance. What to do for the villains and what to do for Foran who has yet to locate the stolen gold.

Foran gets to warble a couple of forgettable western ballads and also gets as a sidekick Glenn Strange who is best known as Sam the bartender at the Longbranch saloon in Gunsmoke. Earlier on he was usually playing heavies mostly in westerns, but here he takes a comic turn as Foran's sidekick. His best comedy performance probably is in Comin' Round The Mountain supporting Abbott&Costello.

This should please most B western fans.