Stage to Mesa City

I hope PRC gave the horses extra hay because they earned it, all that hard riding around greater LA. Reviewer 398 is right. Some of that riding time should have been devoted to developing the plot, which is a promising one—who is the brains behind the gang and how is it he shows up at just the right time to foil LaRue's action. But dialogue costs money and PRC was not known for its lavish budgets, to say the least. Actually, it's a pretty good LaRue with a solid cast, lots of action, and a fairly good story. Even Fuzzy's often lame hijinks are at a minimum.

A central point to notice. When Lash disarms a gun-toter with his whip, it's done in two shots—of him first cocking and letting go, and second of the whip end snapping loose the gun. We never get the entire sequence in a single master shot. Separating the sequence into two shots does cut down on the number of retakes should LaRue miss his target in a master shot. But it also means we don't get to see how good he really is with a whip. Nonetheless, he wields the leather strap like he knows what he's doing, which was more than enough to satisfy us Front Row kids back in 1947.

And Janice (reviewer), I hate to say so, but the reason you don't see your heart-throb LaRue "smooch a damsel" is because of Front Row kids like me. If there were any girls at those matinees, I don't remember them, and if we 10-year boys had seen Lash in a love scene— well, ugh!—as we guys all knew, cowboys only kissed their horses, which for us was the way the world should be. Anyhow, the world changes and thankfully so do little boys, but I admit to still enjoying a gumdrop or two while watching the guy with the whip hard ride across the screen. As he does in Stage to Mesa City.