The Dude Bandit
Cast & Crew
George Melford
Hoot Gibson
Gloria Shea
Hooper Atchley
Skeeter Bill Robbins
Horace Carpenter
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
While Texas rancher Dad Mason is away in Oklahoma, Al Burton, who schemes to get control of every ranch in the valley, gets Dr. Pettit, a crooked cattle inspector, to quarantine Dad's cattle so that he will not be able to sell the cattle and pay back Burton for a note for half of Dad's ranch. Dad, however, returns with the money, but after meeting Burton in a hotel room, Dad is found dead with a gun in his hand and a suicide note nearby. Burton is not suspected, as he was in the lobby when the shot was heard. Arriving from Oklahoma to investigate after he reads about his friend's death, Ace Cooper, the man to whom Dad sold half interest in his cattle so that he could pay back Burton, arranges with Skeeter Bill, Dad's foreman, to stay at the ranch, posing as Tex, an old friend of Skeeter's. When Burton and his men come to attach the property, Skeeter shoots Burton in the hand, and Burton's men take Skeeter away. Ace does nothing to stop them, and Dad's daughter Betty looks upon the supposedly cowarldy Ace with contempt. Later, as Burton is preparing to kill Skeeter and make the murder look like self-defense, Ace, in the guise of The Dude Bandit, a well-dressed outlaw, rescues Skeeter and holds up Burton. Ace determines that the bullet which killed Dad was not from Dad's "rim fire" gun but rather from Burton's "center fire" gun and gives the evidence in a sealed envelope to the sheriff. After Betty's neighbor Brown, whose property is also about to be attached, persuades her to hire men to rustle their own cattle so that they can sell them and then pay off Burton, Dr. Pettit learns about the plan and tells Burton. Held up by The Dude Bandit, the doctor reveals that Burton and his men are on their way to Betty's ranch to catch her breaking the quarantine. As The Dude Bandit, Ace breaks up a fight between Skeeter and Jack Hargan, Burton's right-hand man, and after Ace threatens to kill Hargan and make it look like suicide, Hargan reveals that Burton killed Dad as attention was diverted on account of shooting outside the hotel and then planted a cartridge in the stove in the hotel room so that it would fire when Burton reached the lobby. Ace diverts Burton and his men from Betty, and Burton's men are arrested when the sheriff, who has opened Ace's envelope, arrives with a posse. Ace, to whom Betty had become attracted in his guise as The Dude Bandit, now reveals his real identity to a pleased Betty.
Director
George Melford
Cast
Hoot Gibson
Gloria Shea
Hooper Atchley
Skeeter Bill Robbins
Horace Carpenter
Neal Hart
Lafe Mckee
Gordon De Main
Fred Burns
Art Mix
Fred Gilman
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Sources disagree concerning this film's release date. While Motion Picture Herald release charts list May 1, 1933, Box Office lists July 13, 1933 and Motion Picture Almanac lists April 6, 1933. Variety erroneously lists L. E. Tope as assistant director, rather than sound recordist, as he is listed in the screen credits. The character played by Hoot Gibson is called "Tod Cooper" in a synopsis of the film in the copyright desciptions, but "Ace Cooper" in the dialogue of the film. Modern sources list as additional cast members George Morrell, Merrill McCormick, Hank Bell, Blackie Whiteford, Frank Ellis, Charles Brinley, Charles King, Slim Whitaker, Pete Morrison and Bill Gillis.
