The Trusted Outlaw
Cast & Crew
Robert N. Bradbury
Bob Steele
Lois January
Joan Barclay
Earl Dwire
Charlie King
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Dan Ward, the last of an infamous outlaw family, returns to his hometown to marry his girl friend Molly and prove that he is able to go straight. When he meets Molly outside town, however, she is nervous and claims that her skittishness is due to the presence in town of Jim Swain, Dan's enemy. As they are talking, Dan's name is called out by Ted Wells, one of Swain's henchmen. Although he is surprised, Dan is still able to beat Wells to the draw and kill him after Wells shoots wild. Molly has disappeared by the time Dan returns from picking up Wells's body, and the suspicious Dan continues on into town. Dan takes the corpse to the sheriff, who prevents Swain from picking a fight with the returned bandit. The sheriff then informs Dan that while he was away, Molly fell in love with Bert Gilmore, one of Swain's gang, and plotted with him to ambush Dan. Brokenhearted and angry, Dan is determined to put the past and his reputation behind him, and so accepts a dangerous mission from mine owner Pember. The job is to get the $10,000 payroll through a narrow pass, which is controlled by Swain's gang, to the mine. Gilmore and Swain, hoping to get Dan run out of town by making him revert to his former ways, provoke him to violence. Dan bests Gilmore in a fistfight, but refuses to draw against Swain, saying that he has important business to attend to first. Suspecting that Dan will be taking the payroll to the mine, Swain sends his men into the hills surrounding the pass. Dan's fast guns and quick thinking get him through to the mine, but while he is delivering the payroll, Pember's daughter Betty sneaks off to go to town, despite Dan's warnings. Gilmore kidnaps Betty, which angers the jealous Molly, who then apprises Dan of the situation. She takes Dan to Gilmore's cave hideout, but before they escape, Swain's gang arrives to aid Gilmore. Molly shoots Gilmore, while Dan battles Swain. The miners then arrive to round up the rest of the gang. Dan and Betty return to town, where Pember gives Dan, who has proven that he can be trusted, a steady job and permission to marry Betty.
Director
Robert N. Bradbury
Cast
Bob Steele
Lois January
Joan Barclay
Earl Dwire
Charlie King
Dick Cramer
Hal Price
Bud Buster
Frank Ball
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, the PCA refused to approve the film for certification until "at least half of the wholesale slaughter of men" was eliminated. The picture was approved after two fight scenes were toned down. Modern sources add the following actors to the cast: Oscar Gahan, George Morrell, Chick Hannon, Sherry Tansey, Clyde McClary, Jack Rockwell, Wally West, Ray Henderson, Fred Parker, Jack C. Smith and Al Taylor.
