This rousing vintage Western has it all-cattle rustling, deceit, romance, and lots of gunplay and fighting. Starring Harry Carey and directed by Harry Fraser, Carey plays Trigger Carson, a good man who goes undercover to expose the cattle rustlers. The head of the rustlers is Luke Todd, who has a younger brother named Marty who is being corrupted by Luke. There’s a problem, however, as young Marty is in love with Edith Elkins, the daughter of Jim Elkins, the man from whom Luke has been rustling cattle. There’s also a likeable sidekick named Jed (Victor Potel), who helps get Trigger Carson out of a few jams. In an early scene in the film, he plugs a bad guy shooting at Trigger, just before he’s about to take Trigger out. Jed makes the comment, “If there’s anything I like, it’s a good fight.”
After Jed nails one of the rustlers with a bullet, he says the man won’t be messing around with branding irons anymore. Luke is warned that one day his branding iron will slip or, in other words, he will be caught.
Although Luke doesn’t realize that Trigger Carson is spying on his activities, it is Edith who lets the cat out of the bag, placing Trigger in serious danger. And then Edith’s father warns Marty off from Edith. He evens puts him in jail. But sometime later Marty tricks Elkins and gets out of jail, locking Elkins in instead. One of the suspenseful dramatic elements of the movie is whether or not Marty will turn against his brother. Marty has never personally rustled cattle, but he has been loyal to Luke thus far.
Luke Todd is pretty confident of his rustling trickery and tells Trigger that if Trigger had his own personal milk cow, “you wouldn’t recognize it by the time I got done with it!”
There are a lot of exciting and action-oriented scenes, as well as danger. For example, a character plans to leave a rattlesnake in a cabin, hoping it will attack a man, but the wrong man winds up facing its wrath. In another scene, a villain tries on Trigger’s hat. “Hey, partner, that’s mine,” says Trigger. “It would have been mine, had it fit me,” replies the man. The hat is a bit too big for him. So some of the villain’s distasteful traits come through in the movie.
The film features divided loyalties and will leave the viewer in suspense as to how it will all play out. But after all the fast riding, dusty trails and the smoke from guns clear, the conclusion should be pleasing to most viewers.
The movie features a few characters being shot and dying, a man chewing tobacco and spitting, but overall it is a wholesome watch with its good vs. evil story. It has merited our Dove Seal for Ages 12+ but parents should consult our content listing and make their own informed decisions as to whether children a bit younger might be fine in viewing it.
The Dove Take
For those who love horse chases, action, and a bit of romance, this is the movie for you!
