Border Vengeance
Encyclopedia
Border Vengeance is a 1935
1935 in film
-Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:...

 American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 western B movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....

 directed by Ray Heinz, written by Forbes Parkhill based upon the novel The Return of the Muley Kid by R. Craig Christensen. The film had its premiere on June 1, 1935 and was released to theaters on June 5.

Background

The project starred former football player Lafayette H. "Reb" Russell
Lafayette Russell
Lafayette H. "Reb" Russell was an American football running back in the National Football League for the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football at the University of Nebraska and Northwestern University...

, and was filmed in 1934 by Willis Kent, an independent filmmaker known for his low budget exploitation melodramas.

Plot

A rancher is murdered by Flash Purdue (Kenneth MacDonald
Kenneth MacDonald (American actor)
Kenneth MacDonald was an American film actor. Born in Portland, Indiana, MacDonald made more than 220 film and television appearances between 1931 and 1970.-Career:...

) after he catches Flash in the act of rustling his cattle. Flash diverts attention from himself by accusing the nearby Benson ranch of being the ones who perpetrated the deed. When his family is accused, Peeler Benson (Reb Russell
Lafayette Russell
Lafayette H. "Reb" Russell was an American football running back in the National Football League for the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football at the University of Nebraska and Northwestern University...

) shoots at Flash and hits his ear. As a mob grows, he is able to get to his familiy in time to warn them so that they are able to escape across the border to safety. Hoping to clear his family's name, Peeler decides to stay behind, and joins a traveling rodeo circuit under the name The Muley Kid. Five years later he returns to town and is captured by Flash, who intends kill him out of vengeance for the injury to his ear.

Cast

  • Reb Russell
    Lafayette Russell
    Lafayette H. "Reb" Russell was an American football running back in the National Football League for the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football at the University of Nebraska and Northwestern University...

     as Peeler Benson, aka The Muley Kid
  • Kenneth MacDonald
    Kenneth MacDonald (American actor)
    Kenneth MacDonald was an American film actor. Born in Portland, Indiana, MacDonald made more than 220 film and television appearances between 1931 and 1970.-Career:...

     as Flash Purdue
  • Clarence Geldart
    Clarence Geldart
    Clarence Geldart , was an American film actor. He appeared in 127 films between 1915 and 1936.He was born in New Brunswick, Canada and died in Calabasas, California.-Selected filmography:* The Squaw Man...

     as Sam Griswold
  • Pat Harmon
    Pat Harmon
    Pat Harmon was an American film actor. He appeared in 134 films between 1920 and 1947.He was born in Lewiston, Illinois and died in Riverside, California.-Selected filmography:...

     as Tex Pryor
  • Ben Corbett
    Ben Corbett
    Ben Corbett was an American film actor. He appeared in 283 films between 1915 and 1956.He was born in Hudson, Illinois and died in Hollywood, California.-Selected filmography:* An Eastern Westerner...

     as Bud Benson
  • Slim Whitaker
    Slim Whitaker
    Slim Whitaker was an American film actor. He appeared in 345 films between 1914 and 1949.He was born in Kansas City, Missouri and died in Los Angeles, California from a heart attack....

     as Posse Leader
  • Mary Jane Carey as Sally Griswold
  • Norman Feusier as Old Man Benson
  • Marty Joyce as Young Benson
  • June Brewster as June Griswold
  • Hank Bell
    Hank Bell
    Hank Bell was an American film actor. He appeared in 371 films between 1920 and 1952.He was born in Los Angeles, California, and died in Hollywood, California from a heart attack.-Selected filmography:...

     as Sheriff
  • Rex Bell
    Rex Bell
    Rex Bell , born George Francis Beldam, was an American actor and politician. He was the Lieutenant Governor of Nevada and a western movie star. Rex was born in Chicago and married actress Clara Bow in 1931. They had two sons, Tony Beldon and George Beldon, Jr...

     as Rodeo Guest Star
  • Montie Montana
    Montie Montana
    Montie Montana , was a rodeo trick rider, actor, stuntman and cowboy inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1994....

     as Trick Rider
  • Glenn Strange
    Glenn Strange
    Glenn Strange was an American actor who appeared mostly in Western films. He is best known for playing the Frankenstein Monster in three Universal films during the 1940s and for his role as Sam Noonan, the bartender on CBS's Gunsmoke television series...

     as Cowhand

Critical reception

According to Hans J. Wollstein of Rovi, even as "bottom-of-the-barrel filmmaking on all fronts", the film did have good points. The climatic finale of a nighttime shootout was "quite effective", and with "blood oozing", it was one of the few films of its genre to show the effects of a bullet on its victim. However, the padding
Filler (media)
In media, filler is material that is combined with material of greater relevance or quality to "fill out" a certain volume.-Early television:...

 out of the film by its inclusion of rodeo footage of former Western hero Rex Bell
Rex Bell
Rex Bell , born George Francis Beldam, was an American actor and politician. He was the Lieutenant Governor of Nevada and a western movie star. Rex was born in Chicago and married actress Clara Bow in 1931. They had two sons, Tony Beldon and George Beldon, Jr...

 and horse stunt and trick rider Montie Montana
Montie Montana
Montie Montana , was a rodeo trick rider, actor, stuntman and cowboy inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1994....

"manages to drag out the 58 minutes of running time almost beyond human endurance".
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