User Reviews

An agreeable Hoot Gibson two-reeler in which our hero gets the goods on a crooked sheriff. By relative standards, Eddie Laemmle, a nephew of Universal's founder and boss, Carl Laemmle, was reasonably competent and also had enough sense to let Hoot carry the film – which he does. One reason that Hoot was so popular is that he had the knack of making difficult tasks seem easy – partly because events usually wound up in his favor, but mostly because of his likable, "I'll give it a go but I'm no hero" personality. Also, even in the more dramatic moments of his movies, Hoot was rarely conspicuously aggressive. He often turned the tables on the villains not with his brawn but his brains. Of all the western stars, I would regard Hoot Gibson as the most likable personality. And best of all, he didn't sing. The action was never interrupted while he took time out to serenade the heroine or lull a troublesome child to sleep. This title is available on a very good DVD from Alpha, which also includes Gibson's Fight It Out (1920) in which Hoot turns the tables on a gang of rustlers by forcing them to fight each other!