The greatest movie ever!

Absolutely Fantastic

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

I was Timmy Hovey's stunt double in the movie. It was filmed at Universal International studios and I had the time of my life working on that picture. I was only 8 years old and I was chosen to do the riding for the child star of the movie. I did what was called a "Crouper" running up behind the horse and jumping on from the rear. They actually did a screen test with me, but I had no idea what was going on so I had a very short career in the movies. I never saw the movie when it came out, but about 15 years later I caught it on the late show on TV. If you sneeze you will miss me so watch closely for the kid jumping on the back of the horse, riding up a hill and then back down again. That's me, the anonymous stunt boy.

This is one of my mom's favorite Westerns..and she doesn't like too much gunsmoke, but this was a great movie as you watched a man change because of a kid. I looked up Tim Hovey and am so sorry that that kid died of drugs. I have seen him in other movies, another of Jock's and he was a great little actor. I learned later in life that old Jock was a great stuntman and did the stunts for the Durango Kid before his face was ever seen. I first saw him in "Hoedown" with Eddie Arnold in 1950, where he played a broken down cowboy actor who couldn't even drive a car. In Slim Carter, he played a movie cowboy afraid of heights. I don't think Jock Mahoney was really afraid of anything. He worked with Dick Jones and they could fall off a horse at full gallop and not get hurt. Impossible to say enough about this great star.

While this film has a wonderful supporting cast of familiar Western and TV regulars (including Oscar-winning Ben Johnson and Paul Drake of the TV "Perry Mason", William Hopper), the most entertaining part of it is watching Jock Mahoney playing a singing cowboy and REALLY singing the songs. It goes without saying - although the credits do list it - that the master did his own stunts. Don't expect the next Citizen Kane or plan on hearing Jocko compete with Caruso, but get a kick out of the sappy plotline and watching the star display his varied abilities. You have to find it on TV, it's not on video to my knowledge.