Heading West
Cast & Crew
Ray Nazarro
Charles Starrett
Doris Houck
Hank Penny
Smiley Burnette
Nolan Leary
Film Details
Synopsis
When Indian agent Steve Randall receives a copy of the Bonanza City Nugget newspaper blaming the masked rider known as The Durango Kid for a series of robberies, he decides to visit his old friend, Jim Mallory, in Bonanza City and investigate. Steve, who masquerades as The Durango Kid to bring law and order to the West, is joined by his friend, Smiley Burnette. In Bonanza City, meanwhile, Mallory has decided to sell his share of the mining business to his partner, Rance Hudson, and leave town. After paying Mallory $50,000, Hudson conspires with outlaws Blaze and Red Curlew to rob Mallory and then cast suspicion on The Durango Kid for the crime. After killing Mallory and securing the money, the Curlews refuse to split their share of the proceeds with Hudson. Hudson, who has been robbing the miners and then foreclosing on their property for overdue payments on their loans, then tells Blaze that Sam Parker, the owner of the Gold Moon Mine, is readying a gold shipment. Soon after, Steve and Smiley arrive in town and Hudson decides to pit Steve against the Curlews by suggesting that the Curlew gang was responsible for Mallory's death. Just as the Curlew gang raids the Gold Moon Mine, The Durango Kid gallops from the hills and drives them away. Upon returning to town, Parker tells his daughter Anne about The Durango Kid's heroism and considers hiring him to guard the gold shipment. Steve then suggests that he and Smiley accompany the shipment as guards, but backs out at the last minute. Smiley rides along with the stagecoach, however, and when the Curlews attack, he follows them to their hideout. Although captured by Red, Smiley soon eludes his captors and returns to town. From one of Curlew's men who was wounded during the holdup, The Durango Kid learns the location of the Curlew hideout. After robbing Parker of some gold, The Durango Kid takes the gold to Hudson and tells him that he has stolen it from the Curlews, who are planning to leave the country. Furious at being double- crossed, Hudson rallies his own men and rides to the Curlew hideout. As Hudson's and Curlews' band of rival outlaws shoot it out, The Durango Kid recovers all the stolen gold. In the ensuing gun battle, all of the Curlews' gang is killed. Upon returning to town, The Durango Kid returns the gold to Parker and asks him to arrange another shipment to trap Hudson. After Hudson's men rob the stage, The Durango Kid bursts into Hudson's office and catches him loading the gold into his suitcase. The Durango Kid forces Hudson to confess that he killed Mallory, but Hudson pulls a gun, forcing The Durango Kid to shoot him down. Their mission accomplished, Steve and Smiley ride back to the Indian reservation.
Director
Ray Nazarro
Cast
Charles Starrett
Doris Houck
Hank Penny
Smiley Burnette
Nolan Leary
Norman Willis
Bud Geary
Hal Taliaferro
Tommy Coats
Frank Mccarroll
Stanley Price
Tom Chatterton
John Merton
Fenton Reynolds
Matty Roubert
Harold Hensley
Noel Boggs
Sanford Williams
Charles Soldani
Crew
Henry Batista
Smiley Burnette
Charles Clague
Colbert Clark
Marie Deramie
Mel Foree
Emil Harris
Jack Haynes
Harold Hensley
Richard Mansfield
George B. Meehan
William O'connor
Hank Penny
Ed. Earl Repp
Fred Rose
J. S. Westmoreland
Edwin Wetzel
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Massacre Mesa. Although the character played by Bud Geary is called "Blaze Curlew" in the film, he is listed as "Curley" in the Columbia cast credits. For additional information on "The Durango Kid" series, please consult the Series Index and see the entry below for The Return of the Durango Kid.
