Red River Renegades

Sunset Carson, the towering B-movie cowboy, stars in this unpretentious oater from 1946. He plays a postal inspector out to foil a few sassy bandits attacking a stage line and generally creating the usual western outlaw mayhem .

Along the way, Carson encounters the lovely heroine Peggy Stewart and Tom London as a senior postal inspector . London was a prolific cowboy co-star, appearing in hundreds of films and TV episodes.

This movie is fun for the western film fan, but Carson was not a very good actor at all. While likable, he struggles here as usual. Fortunately a good supporting cast makes this an average film of a once popular genre.

Although Sunset Carson couldn't act worth beans, there was something appealing about his manner and performance. And fortunately, most often those in supporting roles in his movies were very good. In this picture, Sunset is a U.S. Postal Inspector investigating stagecoach mail robberies. Under suspicious circumstances, Sunset meets Julie Bennett (Peggy Stewart) who he comes to find out works in the Wells Fargo office as a clerk. Sunset then meets Pop Underwood (Tom London) who is posing as a saddle maker but is actually a senior Postal Inspector. It is soon revealed that Julie is a Pinkerton agent also investigating the stage robberies. The two best things about this movie are that Peggy Stewart plays a Pinkerton agent (were there women agents back then?), and Pop Underwood's talking pet parrot. Sunset comes to Pop's aid when he is being harassed in a saloon; a fist fight ensues (a realistic fight and one where the tables don't break every time a fighter falls on them) with the parrot providing commentary. My favorite line is when the parrot (after a particularly good knock down) says "Oh, my aching back." Unfortunately, the parrot is only in this one scene. Had he been in more, I probably would have ranked this movie higher.

Postal Inspectors Carson and Underwood have been sent to investigate a series of robberies where both the driver and stagecoach disappear. They team up with Pinkerton agent Bennett who has found some of the stolen money in the possession of Stevens.

Sunset Carson stars as a postal inspector and his acting isn't exactly spellbinding as he looks like he's reading from a cue card but he does have a certain charm. Here, he's supported by western regulars like the ravishing Peggy Stewart and Ted Adams who plays the villain. It's an ok western featuring a female Pinkerton operative which is an interesting aspect, but it could have been sharper in its execution as it comes across a little meandering. Also, I just find it amazing that Peggy told Ted Adams that Sunset and his sidekick are postal inspectors- it makes her come across as a poor operative. I mean, Ted Adams looks so shady! The action is really good, the chases and fistfights have a certain gusto.