The Man from Tumbleweeds (1940) DVD-R

Starring Bill Elliott, Iris Meredith, Dub Taylor, Ray Bennett, Francis Walker
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis

Print: black/white
Runtime: 59 min.
Genre: western
Print Quality: B

Powder Kilgore (Ray Bennett as Raphael Bennett) kills freighter Jeff
Cameron (Edward LeSaint) and the latter's daughter, "Spunky" (Iris
Meredith), sends for gunfighter Wild Bill Saunders (Bill Elliott, in another
of his more than 195 films in which he was never, not once, billed as
William 'Wild Bill' Elliott.) Bill finds that few men care to buck the Kilgore
gang, and he gets consent from Governor Dawson (Don Beddoe) to form
a state ranger's organization out of gunmen now in prison, the men to be
pardoned if they prove themselves worthy. (A plot line used at least six
times by writer/director Robert Emmett Tansey elsewhere in a ten year
period.) Bill whips a Kilgore henchman, Lightning Barlow (Francis Walker),
who is offering "Spunky" protection in return for a half-share in her
freighting business. Bill jails Barlow and other Kilgore gang members
when he and his "rangers" foil an attempted gold-shipment holdup.
"Spunky" and her helper Cannonball (Dub Taylor) stumble on Kilgore's
hideout and are taken prisoner. Bill rescues them, but Kilgore and his
henchman surround the hideout.