The Revenge Rider

This film begins with Tim O'Neil (Tim McCoy) arriving back in town after spending a lot time on the road. He's expecting to marry his girl and settle down. However, there are two huge surprises--his brother, the Sheriff, was murdered and the Harmons are not particularly friendly...and his fiancé, Myra Harmon, isn't so keen on getting married. It isn't that they have anything against Tim...it's that the family patriarch is working, in a way, with cattle rustlers. He's not a bad guy, but the evil leader of the 'Cattlemen's Association', Kramer, is blackmailing him. So, it's up to the nice-guy hero, Tim, to right rights, kick butt and make the west wonderful once again.

I have always liked Tim McCoy more than most B-western stars. He's not as flashy, was certainly no 'pretty boy', didn't sing AND was a real life cowboy and sharpshooter. So, when you see McCoy with his odd flourish as he shoots, it's because he really DID know how to shoot. This also made his shooting scenes very realistic and violent...and I really loved these scenes. Overall, a somewhat standard story but very well done.

This Tim McCoy western shows the Columbia B western unit at its best, with a fine script by Ford Beebe and the impeccable cinematography of Benjamin Kline.

Kline was an old hand at westerns. He was the Director of Photography on a couple of Tom Mix westerns during his peak in the early 1920s and continued working through 1972 -- his last credit was for a TV western movie. In between he rarely worked in the As, but turned in solid work on everything he worked on, from the Three Stooges to a lot of television work. Notice, if you will, the dramatic side lighting here -- a forerunner of Film Noir camera-work.

Ford Beebe's script offers some interesting, conflicted roles to Frank Sheridan and Robert Allen. If director David Selman seems more comfortable directing the visuals than the dialogue, the result is still an entertaining hour of western action with a locked-room puzzle thrown in.