Wildfire

Bob Steele and Eddie Dean teamed on this B western done in color, but the title role of Wildfire was played by a horse. A most remarkable wild stallion who is being blamed for the loss of stock by several ranchers.

Steele and sidekick Sterling Holloway are horse traders and Dean is the local sheriff. After Holloway is shot by the bad guys, Steele and Dean join forces to apprehend the bad guys and clear the good name of Wildfire.

This is a nice independent production from Screen Gems Features which I believe later merged into Columbia Pictures. Dean who was a singing cowboy gets to warble a couple of nice sagebrush ballads. The color utilized was something not often seen in B pictures from poverty row studios.

Fans of the B western should like this one.

The leader of the pack, Wildfire is blamed for some horse thievin'. Our heroes Bob Steele, Sterling Holloway with the best cowboy singer of all time, Eddie Dean may have something to say about that. William Farnum is the judge who wants in on the action and beautiful Virginia Maples is in the middle of the action. Some great suspense provided by Fanning (John Miljan) and Holker (Hal Price) who have a lucrative enterprise going on. Some great songs by Dean serenading Maples and an interesting plot of rustling and revenge. Real good action packed movie that Steele fans will be sure to love.

Though the title of this B movie western suggests that the horse in question will be up front and center, that is not actually the case - after the opening ten or so minutes, the horse is almost completely missing for the remainder of the movie! But that fact is not why "Wildfire" is a big disappointment in the end. Lead actor Bob Steele has a character that's somewhat thin - his character isn't given a terrible amount of introduction and detail. But the main problem with the movie is that it is really slow and dull. The movie really needed more of a swift pace and more action. The action that is in the movie isn't that exciting, though I will admit that it was nice to see fist fights where the punches actually sounded realistic for a change. Even if you've enjoyed other '40s B movie westerns in the past, chances are that you'll find "Wildfire" below par.

This 1945 Cinecolor B-western favorite features the great Bob Steele in a tale of wrangling, rustling & revenge . A magnificent but untamed horse named Wildfire is wrongfully blamed for rustling and horse-wrangling!

This was a rare color film for Bob Steele, with a unique twist on the standard sagebrush movie plot. Steele is very good here in the action scenes and was one of the better Cowboy heroes of the day. It was fun to see the singing cowboy Eddie Dean in the co-starring role as the local Sheriff !

Many of the films from this era are indistinguishable from each other, but the plot, performances and Cinecolor presentation make this a must-see for the Western fan. A notch above the average oater !

Fanning has his men rustle horses and then blame it on a wild horse named Wildfire. Happy and Alkali arrive and immediately get into trouble with Fanning and his men. When Alkali is shot, Happy catches the outlaws but the Judge not only releases them, he discharges the Sheriff and tries to arrest Happy for rustling. Happy escapes and he and the Sheriff then set out to prove who the real rustlers are.

Bob Steele is steely as ever, well, when it comes to stopping some varmints from killing Wildfire - they are claiming that the horse is doing the horse stealing. Wildfire is a pleasant western with a humane element. The horse sort of steals the scene when it's on screen, and there's some real good scenes that tug at your heart strings such as Steele not wanting to shoot Wildfire who is injured by lead from the varmints and he nurses the horse back to health. And the horse responds in kind by coming to their rescue later on. Nice shootout at the end and a satisfying send off for Wildfire who is set free.