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Simply Perfect

Perfect cast and a good story

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Gordon Nance appeared in a boatload of Westerns using the character name of Wild Bill - there was Wild Bill Hickok and Wild Bill Elliott, but for a brief four picture series with Columbia in 1940 he was Wild Bill Saunders. As "The Man From Tumbleweeds", Bill prevails upon Governor Dawson (Don Beddoe) to put together a lawman posse out of seven prisoners released to his custody to take on the Powder Kilgore (Ray Bennett) gang operating in the environs of Gun Sight. This is a fairly standard oater given the nature of these B Westerns, but trivia fans will find a number of interesting points to ponder with this film.For starters, there's Bill's sidekick Cannonball, portrayed by comic relief character actor Dub Taylor. Taylor had the name Cannonball Simms in his prior Columbia team-up with Elliott, "Pioneers of the Frontier", but apparently the last name was dropped in the other three pictures. Taylor uses some of the same type of braggadocio to describe his past exploits the way Gabby Hayes would in any number of his movie Westerns backing up stars like Roy Rogers. Cannonball's high spot in this flick occurs when he throws a makeshift bomb away from the Gun Sight town jail, and winds up in black face when the bomb explodes off screen. A few years later, Dub would appear with Charles Starrett in his Durango Kid films going by the name of Cannonball Taylor.During his days at Columbia and Republic, Elliott rode a number of different paint horses, all going by the name of Sonny. In this picture, it looks like he's aboard the original Sonny, identified by the white spot on the forehead, and more noticeably, the bi-colored black and white mane and tail. The name Sonny isn't mentioned by name in the story, but I do believe I heard Cannonball call his horse Jim.I got a kick out of some of the names given the outlaws who were sprung from prison to accompany Saunders. There was Shifty, Slash and Honest John identified immediately, but you had to stay attentive to catch the rest - Blackie, Daggett and Flint. I didn't catch the last one if it was mentioned, and most of them don't appear in the credits, which isn't unusual for these pictures.I guess I shouldn't forget actress Iris Meredith appearing as Cameron Freight operator Spunky Cameron. She has a role in nabbing the bad guys along with Cannonball and the rest, all with an eye it seems on roping Wild Bill by the end of the story. But not this jack rabbit, Bill was already making plans to high tail it to Texas for his next adventure. The head of the newly formed state rangers would have to be Honest John Webster (Al Hill), who performed admirably as Saunders' next in command. What would you expect of a guy named Honest John?

With that phrase Wild Bill Elliott playing Wild Bill Saunders again states why he just can't settle down in any one place. Elliott's Saunders character is a Lone Ranger without a mask, going all over the west, righting whatever wrongs there are in a given area.In this case Elliott gets a commission from Governor Don Beddoe no less when he sells him on the idea of establishing a state ranger force. Local law enforcement is unable to deal with roving gangs of outlaws who jump from county to county. Elliott even sells Beddoe on the idea of paroling some hard cases from the state penitentiary to clean up a certain really bad gang who murdered freighter Edward LeSaint in front of his daughter Iris Meredith. Get this bunch and a pardon might be in the offing and these paroled convicts the nucleus for a permanent state rangers.One thing really kind of got me. Granted that this film is for the Saturday matinée crowd of kids. But are we really surprised when one of Elliott's parolees turns out to be a double agent when he's got a nickname of Shifty? These films are never known for subtlety.I'm sure the kids in gallery got their money's worth from The Man From Tumbleweeds.

There's lots of six-gun action and hard riding with more intrigue than usual for a matinée entry. Crime boss Kilgore is pillaging the state until Wild Bill arrives to head up a ranger force recruited from the state prison. Everybody's got a sneaky plan to nail the opposition. Add a tricky informant who goes back and forth between the sides, and you may need a scorecard.Elliot is really good at being tough and even downright mean when the occasion calls for it. In my book, he's one of the few matinée heroes who could also play a bad guy as well as a good. Here, however, he stays pretty nice, but is still convincing as the head ranger. Pretty girl Meredith gets more plot than usual for pretty girls and even gets to sling a gun at the bad guys.Of course, no one expects high drama from these matinée specials. Still, this one's notable for its cult director, Joseph H. Lewis, who was clearly perfecting his technique with crashing windows and complex plots. Too bad the action itself never gets out of the scrubby LA area, but Lewis makes good use of what he's got. Okay, this former Front Row kid still looks at these oaters with 12-year old eyes, so I'm probably not the best critic. But I still think it delivers the goods for old time fans.

Wild Bill Elliott, who got his moniker from playing Wild Bill Hickok in a popular serial, used the name Wild Bill Saunders in four films for Columbia. Wild Bill's trademark was wearing the two guns in his holster butt forward yet still drawing them in a traditional manner then swirling them around to put them back. Wild Bill was no phony. He was an expert horseman and had been since youth. Another trademark was calling himself a peaceable man yet using as much firepower as needed to knock down the bad guys.This time around, Wild Bill attempts to put together a group of state rangers to clean up a band of outlaws led by the notorious Powder Kilgore (Ray Bennett) who lets one of his henchmen called Lightning (Francis Walker, not a name that invokes fear and dread) do his dirty work so he can stay free of the law. The outlaws work from a hideout which serves as a meeting house to plot and make plans for robbery of wagon trains operated by 'Spunky' Cameron (Iris Meredith) who has the hots for Wild Bill. In a novel twist at the time, Wild Bill hits on a ploy to use real-life killers who are incarcerated in the state prison to organize the rangers, since the governor is short on funds and willing gunslingers. This idea would reach its fruition in the hit movie "The Dirty Dozen" years later. Needless to say not all the criminals who are promised full pardons for their work are to be trusted. Some wise advice: Never trust a criminal who is called Shifty Sheldon. Wild Bill ultimately succeeds but not before a lot of action-packed adventure takes place. "Brother Bill" has a colorful exist on his paint as he rides out of town headed for Texas and more rip-snorting action leaving Spunky to dream about what could have been.Cannonball (the redoubtable Dub Taylor) served as Wild Bill's comical sidekick in his Wild Bill Saunders films. He doesn't get to show his virtuosity on the xylophone this go around but has a few comic routines of note such as when he is "charred" by explosives when he throws them away from the jail house to save the day.This Wild Bill outings has one major weakness. Though the story is a clever one, the script falters from time to time. There are plot holes aplenty and much is predictable. The lines given Wild Bill and Cannonball are at times somewhat silly. Otherwise, this is a fine Wild Bill Sauders flick.