Thunder Mountain (1947)

After making his post World War II debut as part of the cast of My Darling Clementine, Tim Holt resumed his career as a B picture cowboy hero with Thunder Mountain. If anything Holt's post war westerns were a notch or two better than the ones he did before the war.

In Thunder Mountain Holt is the son of a deceased rancher who has come home to his ranch which has gone to wrack and ruin and he's owing a lot of back taxes to crooked sheriff Harry Harvey. In addition Martha Hyer and her two brothers Steve Brodie and Robert Clarke are quite willing to keep an old family feud going with the two families. But of course Martha kind of likes what she sees in Tim.

Two others in league with Harvey are Harry Woods and Tom Keene looking to do anything to acquire the Holt ranch because of some insider information they've got. It all makes for a typically no frills, but really good Tim Holt western.

Thunder Mountain also has Richard Martin playing his usual character of Chito Rafferty. The Chito character had teamed with other cowboy heroes previously, but would now be joined with Holt for the balance of his career as cowboy hero. Martin was one of the best sidekicks ever created for the western and unusual because he was allowed quite the libido. In a lot of their future films, Tim was always about the business at hand while Chito never let that cramp his style with the women. It made their pairing a bit unusual, but always fun and something to look forward to.

Thunder Mountain is a film that will make you appreciate what a Tim Holt western was all about.