Tonight's Movie: Stagecoach Kid (1949)

Earlier this week I wrote about one of the movies I watched on my recent road trip, ARSON, INC. (1949).

During the trip I watched another film from the same year, STAGECOACH KID (1949). STAGECOACH KID was the second Tim Holt RKO "B" Western I've watched so far this year, following HOT LEAD (1951).

STAGECOACH KID was a solid 60-minute Holt film, written by Norman Houston and directed by Lew Landers.

As he does in half a dozen or so other Westerns, Tim plays a character named Dave, who ranches and also runs the local stagecoach line. As always, Tim's partner is Chito Jose Gonzalez Bustamante Rafferty, played by the inimitable Richard Martin.

Peter Arnold (Thurston Hall) is headed to town to retire on his ranch, but his crooked foreman (Joe Sawyer) plots with fellow hands (Robert W. Williams and Robert Bray) to do in the previously absent owner as he arrives by stagecoach. Tim and Chito thwart the attack, but that's just the beginning of problems for both Arnold and the stagecoach line.

Tim also has his hands full with Arnold's daughter Jessie (Jeff Donnell), who claims she hates the West and wants to return to San Francisco. To that end she even sneaks off and disguises herself as a young boy, but she might not be quite as clever as she thinks, especially when she starts feeling an attraction for Dave.

This is a fun hour, though I tend to find cross-dressing themes tedious. The same studio's WEST OF THE PECOS (1945), which starred Robert Mitchum and Barbara Hale along with Martin's Chito character, is another example of a movie I otherwise like with that type of storyline.

Otherwise, the plot moves along nicely and Donnell gives a spirited performance, striking sparks with Holt's Dave. Often Dave and Chito ride out of town at the end of a movie, but in this case Jessie might just land her man.

The movie has outstanding Lone Pine locations, filmed in black and white by Nicholas Musuraca. In addition to the Alabama Hills, the film shows off the "Hoppy Cabin" as well as the hacienda set which was once located at Anchor Ranch.

I watched the film in Sedona and was amused that, while the film was shot in Lone Pine, a photo which was clearly taken in Sedona was used under part of the opening credits, as seen here.

Even funnier, when Dave and Jessie are in Lone Pine's Alabama Hills one evening, about halfway through the movie, the initial nighttime establishing shot is of Sedona's very recognizable Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte (below).

I'm delighted that thanks to our trip to Sedona I can now recognize that location easily in movies! I'll be sharing more about Sedona here in the future.

STAGECOACH KID is available on DVD in a lovely print as part of the Warner Archive's 10-film Tim Holt Western Classics Collection Vol. 2. It can also be found occasionally on Turner Classic Movies.

The supporting cast includes Carol Hughes, who was married to Frank Faylen and was the mother-in-law of Regis Philbin. Harry Harvey and Kenneth MacDonald are also in the film.

For more on this movie, a few years ago my friend Ivan wrote about it at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear.

Tim Holt films are always nicely made and enjoyable. For me they're great "movie comfort food," and I'd also suggest that they're a great way for those new to "B" Westerns to start becoming familiar with the genre.

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