Jack/Jock/Jacques Mahoney was a fairly regular player in the Durango Kid films, alternating between good guy and villain roles, but this is the first time I've seen him as an Indian! Well sort of, he's a white man living as an Indian after being saved as a baby from a marauding wagon train attack by an opposing tribe, then raised by father Chief Lone Tree. Mahoney's character in the story is Swift Eagle, kind of cool because the Chief is portrayed by an actor named John War Eagle, who was British! Go figure.
In the story a pair of crooked civilian Army scouts (Rory Mallinson and Zon Murray) instigate treachery against Swift Eagle's tribe attempting to goad them into an attack against Major Markham's (Fred F. Sears) cavalry detachment at Fort Tourney. Markham's inclined to battle the tribe without much provocation, but figures it's better to have a reason even if it's trumped up by the outlaws.
Regular Durango Kid fans know Smiley Burnette has a horse called Ringeye because of the painted ring around his right eye, but in this one he's got a cute pup watching his every move as an Army cook dodging every manner of pulley rigged supply he can't control. The dog has a ring around his eye too, and really doesn't have much to do until it's time to save the day with the location of a hidden mine that the bad guys know about. Ringeye snatches a map to the mine and keeps it safe while Durango and Smiley put the bad guys away.
Keep an eye on an early scene when Drake (Mallinson) and Carson (Murray) try to ambush Swift Eagle. From off screen, the Durango Kid uses a lasso to snare Drake's rifle and spoil the shot, but when the camera pans over to Durango on his horse, he doesn't have a lead in his hands! That's what I call fancy rope work!
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