Flaming Lead (DVD)

Men are willing to kill for the Army's lucrative horse contract. When Arizona rancher Jim Burke is shot and killed by rustlers stealing his herd, his daughter Kay (Eleanor Stewart) sends an urgent telegram to Jim's absentee partner, Frank Gordon (Dave O'Brien), begging him to come back from Chicago to help save the ranch. Frank, being a cowardly drunkard, sends cowboy Ken Clark (Ken Maynard) in his place to impersonate him. Ken soon finds himself in a stampede of greed, corruption and murder. His heroic efforts to retrieve the herd and bring the horse-thieves to justice are jeopardized when the real Gordon shows up drunk and blows his cover.

Flaming Lead marks the only time that Producer Max Alexander sat in a director's chair, sharing the credit here with prolific Sam Newfield. Reliable Dave O'Brien doesn't have a single sober line to deliver in this 1939 production, and trick-riding master Ken Maynard gets plenty of opportunities to show off his considerable cowboy skills, honed to perfection during his days with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.

• western