Coyote Trails

A thousand dollar reward is being offered to anyone who can shoot down the magnificent wild stallion known as Phantom, when settlers blame the horse for leading their ever-diminishing herds astray. Horse lover Tom Riley suspects that the rustlers have two legs, and manages to convince the ranchers to give him 24 hours to prove it. The real horse thieves catch wind of Tom's well-intentioned plan, and set out to make sure that he does not live long enough to uncover the evidence that would get them hung.

After driving a chariot in the silent version of Ben-Hur, Tom Tyler began appearing in western features and serials. The former weightlifting champion (said to have hoisted an astonishing 760 lbs.) possessed a natural athletic strength and grace that made him a fan favorite. In 1940, he terrified audiences as the monster Kharis, in The Mummy's Hand. A year later he reached the zenith of his popularity in the title role in The Adventures of Captain Marvel. In addition to his starring roles in "B" movies, he appeared in major studio film productions as Stagecoach, Drums Along The Mohawk, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, The Westerner and Red River.

In the fourth of 18 inexpensive Tom Tyler Westerns produced by Reliable Pictures and filmed on location in Newhall, California, Tom and his sidekick, Windy (Ben Corbett), are hired by John Baker's Bar X Ranch. Baker (Lafe McKee) offers a $1,000 reward to anyone who can capture "The Phantom," a wild stallion suspected of chasing a herd of mares through a hole in the Bar X fence. The real horse thief, however, is Bar X's unscrupulous neighbor, Mack Larkin (Dick Alexander), who is in cahoots with Baker's crooked foreman, Bert (Charles "Slim" Whitaker). Tom befriends "The Phantom" and is determined to prove the horse innocent. Despite the skepticism of Baker's pretty daughter, Helen (Alice Dahl), Tom and Windy set out to prove Larkin's guilt. Although sharing the same character name, "Windy," the rustic Corbett had little else in common with George Hayes (later nicknamed "Gabby"), the quintessential comic sidekick of "Hopalong Cassidy" series fame. A holdover from the silent era, Corbett was woefully unfunny and an amateurish actor to boot.

Action | Cowboys

Genre:

• Western Movies

Labels:

• Alpha Video

Product Groupings:

• Alpha Video - DVDs