The Cheyenne Kid

Jack Randall takes the title role of The Cheyenne Kid, an outlaw and gambler trying to stay on the right side of the law. But if forces can't tempt him away back to his former life, they might just frame him for something and put him in a jackpot where he has no choice.

Unfortunately Randall did his work for Monogram Pictures which didn't even have the production values that even the Republic cowboy heroes had available to them. Nevertheless this fast moving B western was not half bad.

I have to single out Frank Yaconelli as Randall's Mexican sidekick who has a very funny scene in drag. Randall thinks it's real funny, but later our cowboy hero escapes from jail in that same drag outfit. Hardly in the cowboy hero mold, it's very funny, but can you see Hoppy, Gene or Roy doing that?

The Cheyenne Kid while delivering money to close a deal for some cattle is framed for the murder of the person he was supposed to pay. Part of the evidence is that he lost some money at a roulette wheel and his former gambling reputation allows people to think the worst. I have to also single out Ed Brady who is one sharp storekeeper who helps prove Randall innocent.

Too bad this one was not done at a major studio

Addison Randall, also known as Jack Randall, was a good-looking guy with a great voice who apparently didn't get the chance he needed to become the star he deserved to be.

He made a good cowboy in the few films he did make, and with better scripts might have made it to the top ranks, as his brother Bob Livingston did.

He is side-kicked here with the excellent "Mexican" partner, Frank Yaconelli, and gets to romance a very lovely Louise Stanley, who was, in fact, lovely enough he was married to her at some time.

There is a good basic story here, extremely well done by the actors, but not so well done by the script. There is at least one hole, and the whole thing moves rather slowly, but it's still a good cowboy movie.

The directing is good, especially the climactic fight scene, with excellent inter-cutting of the close-ups of the combatants.

Besides, Charlie King is in it and his presence always makes a movie better.

He was sided by another veteran bad guy, George Chesebro, who doesn't handle his dialogue especially well, but gets the rest right.

Several movies have been named "The Cheyenne Kid," and Lash LaRue played a character named Cheyenne Davis, and it will be interesting to compare and contrast some of the others.

I recommend this less-than-an-hour programmer. It's fun and available for free at YouTube.