Billy the Kid Wanted (DVD)

Billy the Kid and his pal Jeff help their sidekick Fuzzy Jones escape from jail, keeping one jump ahead the law as they head into Paradise Valley. The local homesteaders have been swindled by the Paradise Land Development Company, which is run by shady characters, Matt Brawley and Jack Saunders. Sympathetic to the settlers' plight, Billy devises a scheme aimed at driving a wedge between the two con men. But implementing the plan proves risky for Billy and his friends, who are in danger of being exposed and arrested.

As the first of Buster Crabbe's starring Westerns for Producers Releasing Corporation - and his first as Billy the Kid, taking over from Bob Steele - Billy the Kid Wanted exhibits better production values than later entries, obviously in a bid to get good booking for the series. Although he was best known as the screen's Flash Gordon, Crabbe was no stranger to B-grade horse operas, having appeared in many Zane Grey adaptations while under contract to Paramount in the 1930s. He immediately demonstrated great rapport with perennial sidekick Al St. John, and together they ultimately made the series far more popular than it had been with Steele in the title role. - Ed Hulse

• western