My Outlaw Brother

Mexican bandits rob a small western bank, just as New York tenderfoot Denny O'Moore (Mickey Rooney) arrives in town searching for his older brother, Patrick (Robert Stack). Denny teams up with Texas Ranger Joe Walter (Robert Preston) who is searching for the robbers in order to bring their Indian leader, Le Tiger, to justice. After escaping capture by the outlaws, they discover that Patrick may actually be a member of the gang. Denny wants to reform his brother, but when he romances Patrick's girl, he lights a fuse that can only bring explosive results.

Mickey Rooney, America's perennial teenager in the MGM Andy Hardy series, is still referred to as the "kid" and "son" in My Outlaw Brother, even though he was 31 when this film was made. Robert Preston, most famous for portraying Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man, plays Ranger Joe Walter. Robert Stack, soon to become Elliott Ness in TV's "The Untouchables," plays the formerly good brother Patrick, corrupted by power. Screenwriter Gene Fowler, Jr. would soon direct cult favorites I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) and I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958).

• western