Fighting Bill Fargo

"Fighting Bill Fargo" (1941) is a nice, lightly-demanding walk in the park for Johnny Mack Brown and Fuzzy Knight. The age-old story about good people trying to keep the worst elements of humanity from ruling their nice little town, in this case through the use of the town newspaper, was a convenient story line in the good old days of filmed westerns. But, even though the story is familiar and simple, the cast are totally capable and seem to be enjoying their work.

JM Brown, as usual, adds an extra layer of enjoyment for the viewer, easy-going but always ready to make the bad guys pay. He had such a pleasant presence!

That the story is quite spare is betrayed by how the film's running time is fattened up with a running gag concerning Fuzzy's attempts to use a new camera, and also by the inclusion of a couple of happy musical numbers offered by the Eddie Dean Trio.

It is curious, too, despite two strongly-depicted grisly murders which point up the ever-hastening collapse of decent society all around them, everyone on the good side of moral and civil law seems to maintain steady affability and stay surprisingly smiley no matter how bad things seem to get. Music can do wonders! One is urged to just go along with what is dished up and have a good time with this film.

It is notably odd, also, that the venerable Earl Hodgins, frequent player in the B's, did not get any billing, neither in the opening nor in the closing, even though his role had a lot of screen time and is pivotal in the show.

All in all, this is a neat and tidy little Johnny Mack Brown western!