SYNOPSIS:
Ranchowner Ross is murdered by Lefty Landis [Bud Osborne] and his gang. Months later, Ross’ brother Tom [Bill McCall] takes over the ranch and, along with his feisty daughter Sally [Alma Rayford], they still have to contend with the brutish Landis and his gang.
In steps Buffalo Bill Jr [Jay Wilsey] and his starving sidekick partner Barney [Nelson McDowell] who work the ranch in exchange for room and board. Sally isn’t entirely trusting of Bill at first, but gradually grows to like him.
As it turns out, Tom is a compulsive gambler, and a bad one at that, and owes Landis several grand in gambling debts. Landis, however, is less interested in recouping the money as he is outright taking over Tom’s Ranch.
In the middle of the night, while Bill and Barney attempt to sleep, Landis and his gang close in on the ranch to confiscate the money Ross had left in a pillow within the ranch-house, shortly before being killed.
Bill and Barney go out to investigate and get the drop on the thugs.
REVIEW:
“Lightning Bill” (misspelled “Lighting Bill” in the opening credits, a sure sign of quality) is more of the same sludge from good ol’ Denver Dixon a.k.a. Victor Adamson.
The film is quite a boring 47 minutes of time that I will never get back. The story is disjointed, much like other Denver Dixon movies and the camerawork is sloppy [what was with those wiping pans].
An actor is only as good as the material he’s given and Jay Wilsey comes out smelling like a rose. Wilsey was among the bottom rung of cowboy heroes. Originally a silent star for Lester Scott’s Action Pictures, which provided him the stage name of Buffalo Bill Jr, Wilsey made the transition to sound by working for impoverished studios such as Big 4, Syndicate and Cosmos Pictures. Along with other former Action Pictures stars Buddy Roosevelt and Wally Wales, he meandered through some of the bottom of the barrel productions from such luminaries as Victor Adamson and Robert J. Horner. Wilsey earned a pittance for his trouble, likely $250 for a three-day shoot. Once his days as a star were over, Wilsey took supporting work and worked the rodeo circuit. He passed away in 1961 from lung cancer.
Alma Rayford is surprisingly violent, for a female character of her kind, whipping henchmen left and right. She also looks quite exhausted throughout, with bags under her eyes, poor girl. The other actors, even the great Bud Osborne and Bill McCall are indistinguishable from the rest of the performers.
This Denver Dixon dinosaur is not worthy of your time, unless you are a hardcore B-Western aficionado, and even then I still wouldn’t recommend it.
Films like this truly show how starved the little cities were for film product, that they would buy up the absolute barrel scrapings from people like Victor Adamson and Bob Horner.
This one is good for a few laughs, but other than that, all it is, is an endurance test. Suffice it to say, “Lightning Bill” lacks any spark.