Rio Rattler

Tom Denton and Soapy come across a friend Bob Allen with a bullet in his back. Before dying, Allen says he's a Texas Ranger traveling incognito to the town of Rio to drive out the outlaw elements and gives his identification to Tom. Tom and Soapy arrive in Rio and the former is appointed sheriff, when Mason (hidden outlaw leader) notices Allen's identification on Tom. Mason believes Tom will end up like all the other sheriffs (pushing up daisies on Boot Hill), but Tom and Soapy start enforcing the law and Mason decides Tom is to be eliminated. Mason sees an opportunity when Rattler (gunhand and the murderer of Allen) finds out that Tom is not really Allen and has Mary (Allen's sister) accuse him of his brother's murder. Routine oater with little nuances and twists to make it stand out. Tyler is good as usual and watching him here makes you wish he were in movies with better production values, which this clearly does not have. The set up for the ending is good, but the end seems ordinary. Nice comic relief from the "Singing Smith Brothers" who shoot or fight anyone who thinks their singing is terrible. (They would be fighting 24/7) Rating, based on B-westerns, 4

Tom Tyler shows his great acting chops backed up by an all-star cast. Eddie Gribbon from the Keystone Cops and the Singing Smith brothers give some great comic relief. Tyler's got some trouble when the man of thousands of films and the Texas Ranger (Tom London) is killed. Mason (William Gould) tries to frame him and none other than real cowboy Slim Whittaker is hunting him down. Even bigger trouble when the gorgeous heroine (Marion Shilling) thinks he killed her brother. Lafe McKee as Pops rounds out a wonderful cast.

Tom Tyler was a good actor who, in my opinion, deserved better. His distinctive voice should have helped him toward stardom, but possibly held him back because it was distinctive.

"Rio Rattler" had a really good cast, even though most of the people are generally unknown today, except to fans and historians. They didn't get fame, but they sure had talent.

The script is also surprisingly well done, even if the story itself is much like many others, which is OK by me anyway.

But there is some nice byplay among various groups of characters, again belying the budget and demonstrating some skillful writing and directing and, yes, acting.

Watch, for example, when a tall, thin, vulture-like character, dressed in black and wearing a top hat, enters the hotel while Tom and Soapy are registering. He is Nelson McDowell, and you know immediately what his role is because he has been thus cast so many times.

And he is perfect. (As many times as I have seen him, I never knew his name before. God bless IMDb!)

Lafe McKee, here billed as Lafayette McKee, is the hotel manager, and ubiquitous Tom London (One source credits him with some 2,000 movies!) is playing a strong and good character (a Ranger, by the way, not a marshal), to name just two familiar faces who help make this such an excellent film.

One aspect of this movie that fascinates me is the moving camera. That is not usually a feature of movies with such a small budget, and from a non-studio.

Director Bernard Ray, known for some reason here as Franklin Shamray, obviously understands his job, as witness the moving camera and general framing of shots. I never knew his name before, but now want to know more about him and his career. His work on "Rio Rattler" intrigues me.

"Rio Rattler" is available in a rather poor print at YouTube, but it is worth the pops and poor contrast and breaks in movement to watch this excellent B western, and I highly recommend it.