Phantom Valley

The Durango Kid--with "unable" assistance from Smiley "Sherlock Holmes" Burnette--investigates a pair of murders that threaten to fuel a range war.

Eh, Smiley Burnette surely isn't going to give Sherlock the run for his money, but apart from singing and acting the buffoon, he lends good assistance to Steve/the Durango kid, who, of course, figures out who is trying to ignite a range war. And boy was I surprised. The culprit surprised me; matter of fact it boosted the film from its average meter.

The IMDb says that Charles Starette portrayed the Durango Kid and teamed up with Smiley Burnette nearly five dozen times, one of which is here, where a third of the tunes features Smiley. The other two - done by Ozie Waters and The Colorado Rangers - REALLY don't flow with the plot, which has Starrette trying to determine responsibility for a couple of killings, while considering discord between cattlemen and homesteaders. I generally try to excuse limited out-of-placeness in this genre, but, in this case, it's distracting and juvenile. I seem to remember better Durango Kid episodes.