Vigilantes of Boomtown

One of the earliest surviving motion pictures is that of the Corbett-Fitzsimmons heavyweight championship bout held in Carson City, Nevada in 1897. That historic event is the backdrop of this film Vigilantes Of Boomtown where some crooks are planning to steal the gate proceeds from the fight.

Boxing at the time was illegal in many places, but not for the most part in the rough and tumble west. Why Peggy Stewart is so adamantly opposed to the fight is beyond me. But that's part of the plot.

The Corbett camp is using the Duchess's ranch as their training camp so Red Ryder and Little Beaver get into the plot that way. There's also perennial western villain at Republic Studios Roy Barcroft who has some history with Red Ryder and is hoping to meet up with him and settle accounts at the same time he pulls off the caper of the gate.

Roscoe Karns has a really nice role as Billy Delaney, Corbett's legendary manager who Stewart's dog takes a real 'liking' to.

Still Vigilantes Of Boomtown is a subpar entree in the Red Ryder series.

The ranch of Red Ryder (Allan Lane) and his aunt, The Duchess (Martha Wentworth), is being used as the training site for "Gentleman Jim" Corbett (George Turner) for his upcoming fight in Carson City, Nevada for the heavyweight championship against Bob Fitzsimmons (John Dehner). Molly McVey (Peggy Stewart), the daughter of a U. S. Senator, crusading against prize-fighting in Nevada, complicates matters somewhat when she conceives the bright idea of having Corbett kidnapped, thus causing the cancellation of the fight. The two men (George Chesebro and George Lloyd) she hires to do the kidnapping also add to the complications by kidnapping Ryder instead of Corbett. Meanwhile, a gang of crooks, led by McKean (Roy Barcroft), descend on the town intent on looting the town and also making off with the fight proceeds.

I love the Red Ryder series, but this one was confusing and not very engaging - some parts were unusual, in regards to being a mix of being a shoot em up and modern boxing film. However, the acting is fine and so is Peggy Stewart who is quite comic, though I didn't quite understand why she was against a pugilist contest. Nice shoot em up at the end, but nothing remarkable.

In this fine entry from the Red Ryder series, Red Ryder battles a kidnapping plot, greedy henchmen and some pretty bad galoots intent on disrupting a championship bout.

Allan "Rocky" Lane does a good job in the lead role, though he was never quite as convincing as the great Wild Bill Elliott had been. The film is not very historically accurate, but does provide good B-western action. George Chesboro is , as usual, appropriately evil as a villain.

While this is not the best film of the series, it is a marked improvement over the previous Stagecoach to Denver. Fans of Red Ryder & the Duchess should enjoy this one.