The Border Patrolman
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
David Howard
George O'brien
Polly Ann Young
Smiley Burnette
Leroy Mason
Mary Doran
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
At the swanky Desert Springs Hotel in Arizona, four miles from the Mexican border, Patricia Huntley, the spoiled, wild-living granddaughter of wealthy Jeremiah Huntley, provokes the ire of border patrolman Bob Wallace by defiantly smoking in a restricted area of the forest reserve when Bob interrupts her outing with Courtney Maybrook, a jewel smuggler. After Pat rips up the citation Bob has written, he takes her to headquarters, where his captain, believing Pat's lies that Bob used obscene language and manhandled her, orders him to apologize. Bob does, but also hands in his badge. Conscience-striken, Pat insists that her grandfather find Bob a job. Upon meeting Bob, Huntley is greatly impressed with Bob's observation that Pat is headstrong and willful like a horse, and that a horse can be broken if a bridle is slapped on to make it easy to guide. He hires Bob as Pat's "guide," and she warms up to him as he takes her swimming and riding. However, when she realizes his arrangement with her grandfather, she throws a temper tantrum and threatens to get drunk and embarrass her grandfather. When the hotel employees refuse her more than one drink, money advances or a car to drive because of "Mr. Wallace's orders," Pat is furious. Meanwhile, Riker, a federal agent, tells Bob that he suspects that the thieves who stole the valuable Borloff necklace may try to take it across the border near the hotel. After Maybrook's cohorts, who have the necklace in Mexico, complain of heightened border security, Maybrook plans to secretly hide it with Pat, whom he knows will not be searched. After Pat, frustrated with Bob's "persecution" of her, slaps him, he threatens her with a whip, but the slap convinces him that the strategy is a mistake. He plans to leave, but learns that Riker is suspicious of Pat. When Huntley tells Bob that Pat left a note saying that she is going to marry Maybrook in Mexico, he borrows Huntley's car and speeds across the border. After the necklace is hidden in Pat's purse by Maybrook's cohort, Pat and Maybrook are about to be married when she backs down. Maybrook struggles with her, but Bob arrives, socks him and leaves with Pat. The smugglers chase them through the desert and shoot their tire, forcing them to stop. After Pat throws the purse down while running, she and Bob are captured, but while she leads Maybrook to the purse to save Bob, he overpowers his two guards. Maybrook finds the purse and attempts to deceive his pals by driving away with Pat, but Bob jumps into his convertible from a hilltop and overpowers Maybrook. As Bob drives the smugglers back, Pat facetiously apologizes to Maybrook for keeping his gun pointed at him by saying "Sorry, it's Mr. Wallace's orders," and then kisses Bob's bruised eye.
Director
David Howard
Cast
George O'brien
Polly Ann Young
Smiley Burnette
Leroy Mason
Mary Doran
Al Hill
William P. Carlton
Tom London
Frank Campeau
Charles Coleman
George Mcquarrie
Cyril Ring
John St. Polis
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Some reviews call this film Border Patrolman. While screen credits list Sol Lesser as producer and Edward Gross as production manager, SAB credits Lesser as executive producer and Gross as producer. According to Hollywood Reporter, this was the last of the George O'Brien Westerns under his contract with Twentieth Century-Fox. While all other sources list the distributor as Twentieth Century-Fox, Motion Picture Almanac lists the film as a Principal Productions, Inc. release and the leader of the print viewed says "A Principal Picture." Principal was owned by producer Sol Lesser and May have released the film through the Twentieth Century-Fox distribution network. Film Daily notes that this film was "built on the lines of O'Brien's Cowboy Millionaire." According to Hollywood Reporter, some scenes were shot on location near the Furnace Creek Inn at Death Valley, CA. According to modern sources, Martin Garralaga and Chris-Pin Martin were also in the cast.
