The Gunman

When evildoer Lane Bradford is spotted, Texas Ranger Whip Wilson crosses over the border, only to find a town controlled by Braford's gang and sheriff Russ Whiteman has given up. Wilson plays half the lawman and half the vigilante to solve the situation, while his deputy, Rand Brooks courts Phyllis Coates.

Wilson was one of the last entries to Monogram's list of B Western stars, given a fancy moniker and a trademark whip for the kiddie market. He was also one of the worst actors; he can't seem to speak except when he's standing still, and his delivery is uniformly emphatic instead of seeming to have any emotional content. He does occasionally twitch an eyebrow.

Director Lewis D. Collins does his best, thanks to a good script by Fred Myton and some fine camerawork by longtime B cinematographer Ernest Miller. Miller shot more than 300 movies, the great majority of them westerns, from 1921 through 1954, then retired to the small screen, where he shot several early episodes of GUNSMOKE.

Sheriff Whip Wilson and Deputy Rand Brooks cross over from Texas to New Mexico territory chasing fugitive Lane Bradford. But Bradford's running wild free as you please and sheriff Russ Whiteman is reluctant to extradite him.

Bradford's head of gang running a nice protection racket in the area and few are willing to speak out against him. One of those is newspaper editor I. Stanford Jolley normally a villain in these B westerns and his daughter Phyllis Coates.

Turns out Wilson is a friend of Jolley's and he gets involved in the problems of the area just to bring Bradford in.

Though Whip Wilson looks good in the saddle he can't act worth anything. At least in this one Monogram left the romance to Deputy Brooks. Not that Phyllis Coates looks at all comfortable out west.

Still B western fans should like it.

The movie has the typical 1930s-1950s Monogram flavor. Simple theme, made mostly for the kiddies Saturday matinee's. Whip Wilson fits the role quite well, stern jaw, deep voice, slow moving, slow talking. When they put Wilson up on a horse they did so with style putting him up on a HUGE white horse (for effect no doubt). When you look at what the picture was meant to be it's OK...It's nice to see Phyllis Coates before she played Lois Lane to George Reeves' TV Superman. For an "oater", Coates is a pretty fair rider, too. Other charactors of note are Rand Brooks, Fuzzy Knight, Lane Bradford, and Stanford Jolley - all familar western actors of the period. This movie is probably mostly nice today for all us "ancient" persons that were kids in the 1930s, through 1950s that sat through all those exciting, nail biting, Satuday morning movie "thrillers" watching so intently. Have a heart. Watch the picture from the point in time it was meant to be.