Al "Lash" LaRue really deserves much more credit than he usually gets.
He played his character very believably, despite the handicap of looking a lot like Humphrey Bogart. He was athletic enough he usually performed his own stunts, and he handled that dangerous whip as if he had been doing so since childhood.
In fact, the story is he told his producers a bit of an exaggeration, that in fact he had been handling whips since childhood, and immediately after his interview rushed out to find instruction.
A whip-wielding hero was a novelty at the time, and proved a good gimmick, good enough that Lash LaRue became both a popular movie character and even a series of comic books.
"The Fighting Vigilantes" had an interesting story and some clever dialogue, not to mention a really good cast. Fuzzy St. John played a rather schizophrenic character, sometimes funny, sometimes dour, but always equal to Lash.
Jennifer Holt is, in my not-at-all-humble opinion, terribly under-rated: She is, yes, beautiful, but she is also a darn good actress and, even more important, a really good cowgirl.
Watching her handle a pistol or mount her horse, or just ride, or just look at her other cast members, is a genuine pleasure. Maybe she was content with her career, but I believe she deserved a lot more.
Those three were more than ably backed by veteran performers, including Marshall Reed, this time with a tougher role than the ones I've usually seen him in. (I met him at a Western Film Collectors Convention in the mid-1970s and he was a really nice person, good-looking and personable, and he was a great master of ceremonies.)
George Chesebro, as the brains villain, gave an excellent performance, one of his best.
But I have to mention again the script: It all fit, with no holes, and often the dialogue was clever and even funny.
We could wish for a much better print, one not so dark, but this is a good movie even so. I strongly recommend it.
He played his character very believably, despite the handicap of looking a lot like Humphrey Bogart. He was athletic enough he usually performed his own stunts, and he handled that dangerous whip as if he had been doing so since childhood.
In fact, the story is he told his producers a bit of an exaggeration, that in fact he had been handling whips since childhood, and immediately after his interview rushed out to find instruction.
A whip-wielding hero was a novelty at the time, and proved a good gimmick, good enough that Lash LaRue became both a popular movie character and even a series of comic books.
"The Fighting Vigilantes" had an interesting story and some clever dialogue, not to mention a really good cast. Fuzzy St. John played a rather schizophrenic character, sometimes funny, sometimes dour, but always equal to Lash.
Jennifer Holt is, in my not-at-all-humble opinion, terribly under-rated: She is, yes, beautiful, but she is also a darn good actress and, even more important, a really good cowgirl.
Watching her handle a pistol or mount her horse, or just ride, or just look at her other cast members, is a genuine pleasure. Maybe she was content with her career, but I believe she deserved a lot more.
Those three were more than ably backed by veteran performers, including Marshall Reed, this time with a tougher role than the ones I've usually seen him in. (I met him at a Western Film Collectors Convention in the mid-1970s and he was a really nice person, good-looking and personable, and he was a great master of ceremonies.)
George Chesebro, as the brains villain, gave an excellent performance, one of his best.
But I have to mention again the script: It all fit, with no holes, and often the dialogue was clever and even funny.
We could wish for a much better print, one not so dark, but this is a good movie even so. I strongly recommend it.