The Drifter (1944) (DVD)

Heroic cowboy Billy Carson and his sidekick, Fuzzy Q. Jones, learn that Billy is wanted for a series of robberies. The real culprit is "Drifter" Davis, Billy's long-lost twin brother. He has been using his sixgun skills to impersonate Billy as part of a traveling medicine show. Whatever town he visits, a robbery soon follows. Drifter is captured and thrown in jail, but Fuzzy has a hard time keeping track of who's who. He breaks the robber out of prison, mistaking him for his best friend. Now the exact look-alikes have a showdown set for dawn, and only one of them will walk away alive....

With an exciting dual role for Buster Crabbe, The Drifter is one of the most thrilling entries in PRC's "Billy Carson" series. Olympic swimmer and Gold Medal winner Crabbe broke into Hollywood playing the Lord of the Jungle in 1933's Tarzan the Fearless. In 1936, he famously portrayed the comic-strip character in the popular serial Flash Gordon. Beginning with 1943's Devil Riders, Crabbe was teamed with former silent comedian Al St. John in 23 Billy Carson westerns. In The Drifter, the duo are backed by a strong supporting cast including Jack Ingram, Jimmy Aubrey, Slim Whitaker and Kermit Maynard. In the 1950s Crabbe would again find success on the small screen when he starred in the series Captain Gallant Of The Foreign Legion (1955-1957).

BONUS: The Buster Crabbe Show (1951): Beginning in 1951, New York City's WOR-TV aired The Buster Crabbe Show on weekday evenings. The world-famous Olympic swimmer, cowboy actor, and Flash Gordon star hosted each show seated behind a desk in a ranch foreman's bunkhouse, regaling kids with stories, games, and interviews. Buster would also introduce a classic Western movie, cutdown to less than thirty minutes. This episode's feature is the classic Texas Rangers film Outlaw Roundup, starring Dave "Tex" O'Brien and Jim Newill.

• western