Search - Wild Horse Mesa on DVD

"Tim Holt B-Western Series ... Wild Horse Mesa (1947) ... RK

J. Lovins | Missouri-USA | 02/14/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"RKO Radio Pictures present "WILD HORSE MESA" (1947) (60 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- actor Tim Holt graduated to starring his own series of 1940's "B" westerns and to playing solid supporting roles in higher budget features ... At the peak of his career in the 1940's "B" westerns, he was the "fastest draw" in the movies with the ability to draw his revolver in five frames of film (slightly over one sixth of a second) ... From 1941-43 and 1948-52 Tim Holt was a top ten box office star ... Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1991.

Under Wallace Grissell (Director), Herman Schlom (Producer), Zane Grey (author of novel), Norman Houston (screenplay), Paul Sawtell (Original Score), Frank Redman (Cinematographer), Desmond Marquette (Editor), Lucius O. Croxton (Art Direction), Albert S. D'Agostino(Art Direction), Adolph Kuri (Set Decoration), Darrell Silvera (Set Decoration), John Pommer (Second Unit Director), Roy Granville (Sound Department), Jean L. Speak (Sound Department) ------ the cast includes Tim Holt (Dave Jordan), Nan Leslie (Sue Melbern), Richard Martin (Chito Jose Gonzalez Bustamante Rafferty), Tom Keene (Hod Slack), Jason Robards Sr. (Pop Melbern), Tony Barrett (Jim Horn), Harry Woods (Jay Olmstead), William Gould (Marshal Bradford), Robert Bray (Horn rider Tex), Dick Foote (Melburn rider Rusty), Frank Yaconelli (Clemente, the mule driver) ------ the story line is the classic tale from the pen of Zane Grey, with Dave Jordan (Tim Holt) and Chito Rafferty (Richard Martin) searching for wild horses for Nan Leslie (Sue Melbern) and Pop Melbern (Jason Robards Sr) ... but beware of Jay Olmstead (Harry Woods) who is also interested in capturing those wild mustangs, with murder in his heart ... what part does veteran actor Tom Keene play in this exciting adventure, is he on the side of good or evil ... can Tim Holt bring in the killer and rustlers, while Chito is clearly mooning over every senorita that catches his eye ... one of my favorite villains Harry Woods gives an outstanding performance as the number one baddie of B-Westerns --- great stunt work by the RKO stunt personnel David Sharpe (stunt double: Tim Holt) --- don't leave the theater until the final scene ... another winner from the vaults of RKO Radio Pictures --- this is a must watch for the B-Westerns fans in all of us.

BIOS:
1. Tim Holt (aka: Charles John Holt III)
Date of birth: 5 February 1918 - Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California
Date of death: 15 February 1973 - Shawnee, Oklahoma

Special footnote, Tim Holt had one of the leading roles in the Orson Welles 1942 drama, "The Magnificent Ambersons" but the following year he became a decorated combat veteran of World War II, flying in the Pacific theatre with the United States Army Air Forces as a B-29 bombardier. Tim Holt would return to filming after the war, appearing as "Virgil Earp" to Henry Fonda's, "Wyatt Earp" in director John Ford's Western, "My Darling Clementine". Holt would next be cast in the role that he is probably most remembered for and a film where his father appeared in a small part. Tim Holt portrayed "Bob Curtin" next to the Humphrey Bogart character of "Fred C. Dobbs" in John Huston's classic, "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre". Made in 1946, Holt did another four Western films before "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" would be released in 1948. Tim Holt made
two dozen more Western films until 1952 when the genre's popularity waned. He would be absent from the screen for five years until starring in a less than successful horror film in 1957 then appeared in only two more uninspiring motion pictures during the next fourteen years.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

2. Richard Martin
Date of birth: 12 December 1917 - Spokane, Washington
Date of death: 4 September 1994 - Newport Beach, California

Special footnote, Richard Martin an American actor began appearing in films under contract to RKO in the early 1940s. Martin created the character of Chito Jose Gonzalez Bustamonte Rafferty, the Irish-Mexican comic sidekick of cowboy star Tim Holt, in the 1943 film "Bombardier", Martin played the character in a series of 29 films through the early 1950s.Martin married actress Elaine Riley, who co-starred with him in several films, retired from the screen to work in the insurance business in the early 1950s.

3. Wallace Grissell (Director)
Date of birth: 3 September 1904 - Hounslow, London, England, UK
Date of death: 5 April 1954 - Camarillo, California

4. Zane Grey (aka: Pearl Zane Grey)
Date of birth: 31 January 1872 - Zanesville, Ohio
Date of death: 23 October 1939 - Altadena, California

Special footnote, Zane Grey Prolific American writer and pioneer of Western as a new literary genre Grey's most famous book is "Riders of the Purple Sage" (1912), Inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1977.

Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc), Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") and Trevor Scott (Down Under Com) as they have rekindled my interest once again for B-Westerns and Serials --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns ... order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out Amazon.Com where they are experts in releasing B-Westerns and Serials --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 60 min on DVD ~ Lions Gate Video ~ (6/06/2006)"