Bad Man from Red Butte

It will help to enjoy and appreciate "Bad Man from Red Butte" if one is already a fan of B-westerns, for the many coincidental chance meetings and not-fully explained relationships can only be accepted if one comes from a place of patient tolerance. The story is fun and is one which allows Johnny Mack Brown to play two parts, one bad (more or less) and one good. There are films of the genre which are anachronistically set in contemporary times, but this one is not clear on that score, not sure whether intentional or not... almost everything points to 1880 or so, but there are scenes here where the town's womenfolk are out and about wobbling along the town's dirt main street and on raised wooden sidewalks in high heels and other fine garb of 1940. Like I say, one must be tolerant. This is a minor movie to be sure, but the many interesting faces and characters make it a fun parade nonetheless. Prolific bad man Roy Barcroft appears in one of his relatively early western villain roles, showing off a fairly slender self! One somewhat unusual element is that JMB has two what could be called sidekicks, one played fairly straight (in the talent of Bob Baker), who really doesn't do much, and the other being a more comedy reliever type (Fuzzy Knight). The film is structurally well-put together, however, and if one just lets it flow without thinking too much it will probably be an enjoyable ride.