Desert Phantom

I have always enjoyed B-western stars like Johnny Mack Brown and Tim McCoy because they were NOT super-handsome nor did they sing. They were pretty much the antithesis of folks like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry because they seemed more real to me. However, I must also admit that in the case of Brown, an awful lot of his films were rather poor because of the writing. Fortunately, this is NOT the case with "Desert Phantom". Aside from one stupidly written character, the film is a winner.

The film begins with Brown playing a traveling ammunition salesman. His routine is to go into western towns dressed as an Eastern dude and put on a shooting exhibition. However, in this particular town, a pretty lady is so impressed by his shooting skills that she offers to hire him, as she's had some unknown phantom shooting folks on her ranch! She hopes he's able to get to the bottom of all this.

While eventually there is the big showdown and you learn why all these shootings have occurred, there is a very odd diversion in the form of the lady's step-father. He is among the strangest characters I've ever seen and his story simply is baffling--and is a case of a writer really missing the mark. See the film and you'll understand what I mean. HOWEVER, the rest of the movie is quite exciting, has some excellent twists and is memorable because it gives Brown a chance to show just how good he could be in the lead. Well worth your time.