Skipalong Rosenbloom
Cast & Crew
Sam Newfield
Max Baer
Jackie Coogan
Fuzzy Knight
Hillary Brooke
Jacqueline Fontaine
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After a long series of successful bank robberies and sheriff shootings, Butcher Baer and his gang come up empty-handed from their latest looting and return to their home, peaceful Buttonhole Bend. Once at the town saloon, Square Deal Sal, saloon proprietor and Butcher's silent partner, assures Butcher that they can recoup their losses with honest money. She explains that she has given Granpappy Tex Rosenbloom one week to come up with the $2,000 he owes her or she will foreclose on Texas Indian Bow Ranch, the Rosenbloom homestead and the site of an abandoned gold mine with an undiscovered fortune. When Tex arrives to tell Butch and Sal that his grandson, Skip-A-Long Rosenbloom, is on the way to help him, Skip-A-Long's heroic reputation scares the villains into enlisting sidekick Sneaky Pete to set up a series of traps for the hero. However, Skip-A-Long, oblivious to danger, adeptly dodges and out-shoots every attempt Pete makes on his life while lazily singing his theme song. The next day Skip-A-Long arrives at the saloon and demonstrates his shooting skills by throwing up a quarter and shooting it with his square-barreled guns, only to have a whole handful of coins come back down to the table, impressing all. Butcher then wins a game of cards against the hero but when he finds Skip-A-Long's bag of money is full of bottle caps, a fistfight ensues. After Butcher pummels Skip-A-Long unconscious, the hero wakes up to find his old pal Buck James and buxom schoolteacher Miss Caroline Witherspoon. Skip-A-Long and Buck ride to the homestead and, while Sneaky Pete watches surreptitiously from outside the cabin window, the two set about fixing Tex's range and discover the stovepipe is plugged up with the map to the gold mine. Needing a ruse to empty the house and steal the map, Sal, Butcher and Pete send a distress note claiming Indians have kidnapped Miss Caroline. Skip-A-Long, Buck and Tex search nearby for Miss Caroline but find only a wig and, mistaking it for a scalp, assume Miss Caroline is dead and discontinue their search before Sal, Butcher and Pete have a chance to take the map. The next morning in town Skip-A-Long is happy to find Miss Caroline alive, and the lass sings him a lesson in love, wooing the big oaf into kissing her. The couple is interrupted, however, as Buck and Tex ride up and announce the map has been stolen. Meanwhile at the saloon a sweepstakes to guess the hour of the next sheriff's death is a big local draw but Sal cannot find another sheriff who has not been killed by Butcher. When Skip-A-Long arrives at the saloon wanting to enlist the local sheriff to help find the map, Sal and Judge Bean flatter Skip-A-Long into taking the job. Later on the trail Butcher and his gang ambush Skip-A-Long and Buck. Completely outnumbered Skip-A-Long sends Buck away, telling him to give Miss Caroline a kiss for him should he die. Skip-A-Long then charges the hill toward his foes, and when their shots do not harm him, the gang flees in fear. Skip-A-Long and Butcher duke it out over hill and dale but finally, exhausted, Butcher returns to town where Skip-A-Long jails him and promises the townspeople a share of the gold mine profits. The next morning Buck reads the directions to the mine to the townspeople, but they turn out to be directions to a mail-order square dance lesson. Sal accuses Skip-A-Long of deceiving the townspeople, but Skip-A-Long follows a lead from Pete and finds Butcher and his gang in the mine. The gang tie Skip-A-Long up and light a gun powder keg at his feet, but, being allergic to gunpowder, Skip-A-Long sneezes, blowing out his own fuse and lighting another fuse leading to Butcher and the gang, who are waiting in the other room. The explosion blows the gold out of the mine and the townspeople rejoice in their new fortune. Skip-A-Long comes out unscathed, arrests Judge Bean and Sal, and asks for Miss Caroline's hand in marriage. Buck then explains that he had assumed Skip-A-Long had died in the big shootout and, following through on his promise, gave Miss Caroline a kiss, which led to more and they wed. Skip-A-Long hands his badge over to Buck, gives his best wishes and leaves town for more adventures.
Director
Sam Newfield
Cast
Max Baer
Jackie Coogan
Fuzzy Knight
Hillary Brooke
Jacqueline Fontaine
Raymond Hatton
Ray Walker
Shaw And Lee
Joe Greene
Dewey Robinson
Whitey Haupt
Carl Mathews
Artie Ortego
Rosenbloom
Crew
George Bahr
Eddie Forman
Eddie Forman
Eddie Forman
Irving Gertz
Glen Glenn
Art Hammond
Helen Holm
Jack Kenney
Jack Kenney
Wally Kline
Wally Kline
Victor Lewis
Augie Lohman
Ray Mercer
Ernest Miller
Buddy Myers
Fred Preble
Dean Reisner
Dean Reisner
Harry Rief
Dean Riesner
Barney Sarecky
George Shine
J. R. Whitrredge
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was The Adventures of Skipalong Rosenbloom. Wally Kline Enterprises rereleased the film in 1953 under the title Square Shooter; the title of the viewed print. According to 1951 copyright cutting continuity, before the credits roll, a family is seen watching a political television show entitled "Round Table for Square Heads." Bored, the family switches to a TV announcer, who introduces The Adventures of Skipalong Rosenbloom after doing a parody of product sponsorship. The television announcer continues to interrupt and introduce new products throughout the film and also appears at the end.
In the 1953 rerelease print, the family scene was removed but the television announcer remained. According to a September 6, 1950 Hollywood Reporter news item, Patti Moore and Ben Lessey were originally cast in the film but left, claiming their original contract was for a television series instead of a motion picture. Portions of the film were shot on location at Corrigan's Ranch, Calabasas, CA. A modern source adds Sam Lee and Al Shaw to the cast.
