Frontier Justice

It is as if the gang at the studio had an obligation to put one more film on the shelf before the year closed, so "Frontier Justice" was hurriedly shot and thrown together. It seems even that dialog was developed without a crafted story and the spoken lines handed out to the actors to utter as best they could. That the hero returns to town after a long time away with a penchant for practical jokes gives the program a little something different to hang its hat on, but in general nothing much happens that western fans can't see clearly coming. As usual, Hoot Gibson is involved in little gun play or fisticuffs, relying instead on his wits, cleverness, and his way with horses to advance his heroics.

We have a leading lady played by Jane Barnes who looks totally out of place in this World War I-era wild west world. There were two memorable things for me in this film: first was the frequent sounds of cattle and sheep vocalizing, which after a while can get a little irksome. Second, by way of contrast, there was the pleasantly surprising orchestral appearance of the song "La Golondrina" as a backdrop to Hoot coming unexpectedly across the girl in the forest idyll. Was the music backdrop planned before the shoot or was it an inspired drape-over later?

Unfortunately, however, this is not a Hoot Gibson movie to recommend. He made others in the mid 1930s that were much more interesting and enjoyable, so if one is in need of a rich 1930s B-western experience, one might consider moving along to another.