Thunder Town

Bob Steele is pretty good as a man paroled from prison, even if he's got a villainous-looking mustache. He was framed, bt not sure who or why. Ellen Hall is still sweet on him, but her guardian wants her to marry the guy who actually killed the victim, so he can combine ranches.

The direction by Harry L. Fraser is nothing to write home about, although Steele still looks getting onto his horse. Fight scenes are a problem, as when the camera cuts away to Miss Hall in a wedding gown, looking like a bored bump on a log. For some reason, Harry Reif is credited for set decoration, for deciding not to put any furniture around.

Not among Steele's best. I agree with reviewer Henchman—Steele looks a little old and haggard here. Maybe that's why we get so few close-ups. And that's too bad, because the compact cowboy had one of the best hard-eyed stares in the business. Those pale blue eyes under a bushy brow could drill holes through walls. I expect that was one reason he was cast in A-pictures like The Big Sleep (1945) and The Enforcer (1951), where he made genuinely scary bad guys. Indeed, he could do those as well as tough good guys—quite a tribute to an actor who stood only 5'5".

Anyway, PRC was about the bottom of the barrel in production values and that's about what we get here—LA area scrublands, cheap sets, and a lot of standing around talking. There's some athletic fisticuffs (Steele's specialty), but not much hard riding or gunplay. What the movie does have are some of the best veterans in the business—rotund bad guy Charles King (Rankin), along with two of Hollywood's top stuntmen Bud Geary (Wilson) and Bud Osborne (Carson). Also, Ellen Hall makes a lively and attractive love interest. Too bad she left the business early. One oddity to watch for—two sets of bad guys. Maybe PRC thought that would make up for some of the cost cutting. Anyhow, for this former Front Row kid, many of my best matinée days were spent with these oaters, cheap or not.

Parolee Jim Brandon (Bob Steele) arrives back in town to acquit himself of the robbery he was convicted of a year earlier. Steele with the aid of "new-fangled" ballistics technology tries to prove he was framed by town thugs Bill & Dunc Rankin, Chuck Wilson and Henry Carson (Charles King, Edward Howard, Bud Geary, Bud Osborne). Unfortunately, Bob as a convicted felon can't wear his six-gun and is forced to use his wits to to out maneuver his opponents, along with the help of his old friend Utah McGirk (Syd Saylor) and his girl Betty Morgan (Ellen Hall),.

This movie is Bob Steele's last leading role. Steele already looking a bit older in this one, sports a Boston Blackie Mustache which adds to the aging affect and makes him appear a bit too old to be the love interest of the youngish looking Ellen Hall. As with most PRC films (often referred to as an acronym for "Produced Really Cheap") the studio bean counters must have been pleased. Nobody expects Shakespeare but Steele, who actually was a pretty decent actor, couldn't do much to make this script sound good. As usual PRC tried to save a few bucks on sound and lighting. To be fair the soundtrack doesn't seem as tinny as a lot of the other PRC films I've watched. Even though the production standards aren't high, the action is. Since Steele, a parolee, can't wear a gun, he must use other means to deal with his enemies. In this case it's usually fists first, questions later, as Steele pummels every bad guy in sight.

Thunder Town was Bob Steele's last leading role as a Saddle Hero. While it wasn't a great send-off for Steele, he continued on in a variety of supporting and character parts for nearly thirty more years. Another generation would come to remember him as " Trooper Duffy" on the television series F troop.

Just an OK B-Western