My Outlaw Brother

This ‘B’ Western is the working definition of an “oater”: designed as a vehicle for the diminutive but energetic Mickey Rooney, his character is somewhat overbearing – that of a New Yorker who goes to Mexico in search of his elder brother, nicknamed “The Pride Of Tenth Avenue” (played by Robert Stack), only to find him to be not as upstanding and hard-working as he had been led to believe. In fact, Stack’s the right-hand man of a notorious bandit – dubbed “El Tigre”; when confronted by Rooney, Stack confesses to being indebted to the Mexican…but when ultimately revealed, the latter’s true identity greatly dismays Rooney (a clue: Stack and the bandit never appear together in the same scene!). Anyway, the film is unassuming and pretty forgettable but, at the same time, watchable enough; on the plus side is an appropriately foreign look (the production company took the trouble of shooting on location, albeit in a studio – the hacienda setting, incidentally, would soon become a staple of Mexican horror efforts!), as well as the imposing and reliable presence of Robert Preston as the Ranger out to capture “El Tigre”. The feminine angle is represented by petite Wanda Hendrix, coveted by Stack but who finally ends up with Rooney – content, for once, to be able to get a girl his own size instead of the usual “6-foot whales” from back home!