Bruce Dern, to this day, has people who hate him because in one of his early roles "he killed John Wayne."
Shot him in the back, in fact. Well, his character shot the John Wayne character.
Robert Mitchum, in this early role as Dirk Mason in "Colt Comrades," also plays a murderous bad guy, but managed to overcome any aspersions cast upon him.
Mitchum is just one of a splendid collection of superlative actors in this entry in Pop Sherman's Hopalong Cassidy series.
William Boyd, who reached immense fame as Hoppy, was one fine actor, beginning in the silent days, where he was a favorite of Cecil B. DeMille.
In fact, his short part in DeMille's "King of Kings" has always stood out in my memory as one of the highest high points in the film. Boyd accomplished a lot without words, just expression.
After the disaster of another William Boyd's arrest, and our Boyd's photo being displayed in the story, his career took a nosedive. The story is he was so traumatized, his hair turned white.
When the Hopalong Cassidy series was being readied, the story goes, he pleaded for the chance to play the lead, and, well, the rest is genuinely history.
Hopalong Cassidy is one of the classic heroes of Hollywood, even though the cinema version is quite different -- surprise, surprise - from the book version.
Boyd was, as I said, an excellent actor, and he became an excellent cowboy, and a good business man: He was smart enough to acquire the TV rights to his movies and apparently to the character, and became rich thereby. Deservedly, in my opinion.
One reason I love to watch him: He had probably the greatest laugh ever recorded on film.
In "Colt Comrades," a generic and pointless title, he gets a frequent chance to laugh with his partners and it helps make this already great B western even better.
Here he is cast with another terribly under-rated actor in George Reeves, the excellent Victor Jory, a wonderful under-player of villains, and the great Douglas Fowley, of that distinctive voice.
Also along is Earl Hodgins, a veteran of rascal roles, and Dewey Robinson, who is perfect as the bartender, and both are always fun to watch.
The female lead, Teddi Sherman, then 19, had a really cute, little-girl voice, but with big-girl looks. She apparently did more writing ("Four Faces West," for example) than acting, but was very watchable in "Colt Comrades."
There are a couple director errors in the big gun battle, but generally Lesley Selander was more than adequate, and the script also is of high quality, allowing superlative actors good dialogue with the good story.
At YouTube it seems all the available versions of "Colt Comrades" are fuzzy and hard on the eyes, and some are also hard on the ears, so pick carefully. But do pick, somewhere if not YouTube, and enjoy. I highly recommend "Colt Comrades," with a good story, directing, scenery, and an outstanding and excellent cast.
