Arizona Gunfighter (1937)

This Republic western is an interesting work, well-directed by Sam Newfield, starring glacial-eyed Bob Steele with a solid supporting cast, a well-constructed scenario featuring a goodly amount of fresh dialogue and situations, and an obviously more than competent crew which covers its assignments well as apparent from the excellent sound, cinematography and editing, not a presumption within this normally low-budget genre. Steele portrays Colt Ferron, a cowboy who avenges his father's murder by slaying, albeit in self-defense, the two responsible and, as an outlaw, rides with a gang headed by Wolf Whitson (Ted Adams), a type of western Robin Hood who steals back rustled cattle in order to return them to their proper owners, remaining with the riders until Whitson dissolves his group because dissidents, impatient of their less than lucrative criminal activity, have begun to branch out into bank robbery and murder. The relationship between Colt and his mentor Wolf becomes absorbing, especially as both men eventually face juridical punishment for their crimes; the acting throughout is quite good as is fitting from such an assemblage of old hands, particularly from Ernie Adams as a sidekick of Colt and Wolf, and the horsemanship is superb, indeed silk-like from the centaurish Steele aboard Flambow, one of his favourite, and most intelligent, mounts.