Ghost Town Renegades

A surveyor is at work in a ghost gold-mining town, when a couple of men ride up, and one shoots the surveyor. There's compliments all around (except from the corpse). Meanwhile, Lash Larue is called in by Marshal Albert Jennings to deal with a bunch of murders near the ghost town. Crack investigator Al 'Fuzzy' St. John is already on the site.

It seems odd to be considering Lash Larue B westerns, even from 'the New PRC', and trying to rate them against each other. Often they have a good plot behind them, as this one does, and some interesting actors, like Jennifer Holt, and a sharp print shows that cinematographer Ernest Miller is a talented man when it comes to lighting a set and shooting an outdoor scene than usually shows on video cassettes drawn from worn 16mm prints. This one looks quite nice. Clearly he knew the craft he practiced on more than 300 movies.

Then, however, you need to think about Larue's wooden acting, and the ridiculous foley work, and wonder why Miss Holt disappears from the production. It makes my head hurt. Well, at least a couple of St. John's comic bits are amusing.

When gold is discovered in a ghost town, a crooked attorney, town clerk, and a couple of vicious gunmen team up to lure the unsuspecting landowners and kill them, securing their deeds by forgery.

Investigating the disappearances is undercover federal Marshall Davis, better known as the Cheyenne Kid and his sidekick Fuzzy Jones.

This is a entertaining entry in Producers Releasing Corporation's Cheyenne Kid series starring Lash LaRue, with some good action scenes and a craftier than usual villain.

Al St. John gives good support with ample comic relief, definitely the best sidekick in the business.

Co-star Jennifer Holt was one of the most beautiful women of the Saturday matinée westerns, her best role being as the title heavy in The Hawk Of Powder River.

This is my first time seeing a Lash LaRue film, and it won't be the last. Dressed in black, Lash has uncanny resemblance to Bogart, and his voice is similar too, however, he comes across unique, and has his own style. Boy, can he crack his whip with skill when taking on a bunch of bad guys out to steal a land teeming with gold. Plenty of fast galloping antics ensues, fist fights and action galore - Fuzzy Knight adds the comic support and the leading lady the beauty.

The killing starts with an unsuspecting surveyor and his partner. "You never miss do you Waco (Lane Bradford) Most times you don't get a second chance." Fuzzy St. John playing the part of the 'desert rat' gets chased off by the henchmen but the King of the Bullwhip (Lash La Rue) is not far behind. Jennifer Holt is coming to town in style. Vance Sharp's (Jack Ingram) can't let that happen if they're going to control the deeds. Jonas Watson (William Fawcett) may be doctoring the deeds for Sharp who's trying to kill off the rest of the competition. Plenty of action by Ingram and his gang, beauty and style from Jennifer Holt and a strong performance by La Rue. However, Fuzzy has some of the best scenes, especially when he's chasing down the ghosts.

Pretty good Cheyenne Kid (La Rue) oater. The opening hook is a grabber as two guys get dry-gulched by a long-range shooter. After that, their bodies disappear. Now the Kid and Fuzzy have to untangle a land grab scheme that takes them to a ghost town where odd things happen.

Along the way is the usual complement of hard riding and theatrical brawls. But watch how nimble Fuzzy is in these fights, surprising for an old coot except he's not as old as he looks (54). In fact, Fuzzy gets more screen time than La Rue, which appears true of many of the entries, and I'm not sure why since the guy in black is a decent enough actor and strong presence. Catch that first frilly shot of Diane (Holt) in the stagecoach—she's an absolute knockout. If I were the Kid, I'd drop the whip and grab her right away (but then that's me as an old guy, and not as a former Front Row kid).

Anyhow, looks to me like the "New PRC" is just as chintzy as the old PRC since the boys still have to ride around the scrubby hills of LA. The new outfit should have popped for something more scenic because they had a winner in La Rue with the kids I knew. Better production values would have really elevated the series above many of its competitors. Instead, I guess they took the fast-buck route. One way or the other, the Kid still cracks a mean whip.