The Kid from Broken Gun

This is disappointing in that the plot is incredibly convoluted for a short (55m) Movie. However, it's worth seeing for a few reasons;

1) The It's the Law I almost called it video with the seven faces of Smiley Burnette. It's almost surrealistic the way it happens. It's also the only music in the film.

2) It's the very last Durango Kid Movie.

3) The rooftop running and jumping scenes and some of the other action scenes are worth sitting through the rest of this hard to follow courtroom drama.

It is a shame that the last film of a generally fun Series like this is so woebegone.

This late entry in the long-running Durango Kid series is flawed by being told in flashbacks.

It gets rather muddled because people are shown knowing stuff they really couldn't have known.

Still, the cast is great, and it's star Charles Starrett's last movie, so it is a must see.

Myron Healey gets a chance at something unusual, too: Instead of a gun-carrying bad guy, he's the prosecuting attorney. (The other comment, at this writing the only other one, gets something wrong: It's not the Starrett character on trial; it's the title character, the Kid from Broken Gun.)

John Cason is one of the gun-carriers, and he is accompanied by some familiar faces who aren't listed in the credits, even here at IMDb.com, and that's a shame.

Tris Coffin does get credit, and he is such a smooth actor, I often wonder why he didn't get more fame and a closer approach to real stardom. He had good looks, a pleasing manner, even as a bad guy, and a beautiful voice.

Smiley Burnette has a strange musical interlude that seems to have been included just to pad out the movie ... yet it has its own charm, even if it seemingly drags down the movie.

The action is great fun to watch. My guess is Ted Mapes did the stunts (because he was Starrett's stunt double in the series' beginning, as well as Gary Cooper's and Jimmy Stewart's), but Jock Mahoney has a major part, and watching his athletic grace adds a lot to the general enjoyment.

He reminded me of David Sharpe in some of his movements, the way he vaulted over a hitching post, for example, instead of walking around.

Maybe it is a shame that Charles Starrett should end his career with such a poor script. He really deserved better. But there is ultimately more good than bad and "The Kid from Broken Gun" is, really, a must see.

(((This is added after seeing information about Ted Mapes at http://www.b-westerns.com/stunt12.htm: Likely he was not the stuntman; more likely it was Jock Mahoney.)))

Not being a fan of, or knowledgeable about, cheap B Westerns, I was about to give this film a devastatingly bad review. Fortunately, I had the sense to do some research, and discovered it was the last of a series of Columbia programmers about "The Durango Kid". That doesn't make it any less bad, but at least the film gains some... provenance.

Smiley Burnette is featured in a highly unnecessary role, which includes singing a song he (probably) wrote, "It's the Law". Burnette was at one time a popular sidekick, but unlike (say) Gabby Hayes, is hardly remembered. * It's films like this that might explain why.

Hayes was a good actor who could convincingly play serious roles; Burnette is there strictly for the laughs. Not only does he appear in court dressed as a woman to deliver fake testimony, but when he's accused of wasting the court's time, he sings "It's the Law" wearing a dozen costumes, both male and female. (One suspects this sequence took longer to film than all the rest of the picture.)

Even given that this is a kiddie Western, it's unintentionally risible throughout. Burnette calls armed men "gunsels", the writer apparently not knowing what the word //really// means. And Dixie's riding outfit has to be seen to believed. One can only hope the costume designer was deliberately being campy (rather than believing there was anything historically accurate about it).

"The Kid from Broken Gun" is a laff-riot that, at a very brisk 55 minutes, doesn't wear out its welcome. An ideal "party film".

* Stan Freberg mentions Burnette in the introduction to the "Bang Gunleigh, US Marshal Field" sketch on his 1957 radio show.

Interestingly mixing courtroom and flashbacks ( which were apparently taken from a previous Durango Kid film), The kid from broken gun is a well-paced, convulated time filler with plenty of action in between courtroom scenes. The Durango kid leaps off rooftops, swinging from it as well, and Jock Mahoney, playing a guy accused of murder and robbing Santa Anna treasure, also gets the show his athleticism in an energetic fight scene. It's a well-directed, however I found the Smiley Burnette singing it's the law a bit odd, especially when it abruptly appeared, cleaving through suspense, but the last Durango kid film soon got on track. A fitting end to the Durango Kid.

There are Tom Mix touches to Durango Kid jumping roofs and on to his horse like a parcourt gymnast. Good acting from Jack Mahoney and Smiley Burnette playing themselves, and Angela Stevens as the lovely heavy.

Unusual screenplay for any Western, with flashbacks reminiscent of film noir.

Good photography for a B pic, zippy dialogue, and some great comic relief and singing from Burnette. Recommended