The Spirit of the West (DVD)

Rodeo star Johnny Ringo returns home upon learning that his younger brother Bud has been badly injured. Crooked livestock brokers Matt Ryder and Tom Fallon, whose principal business is rustling cattle belonging to local ranchers, take control of Bud's spread during his convalescence. To allay the suspicions of Ryder and Fallon while secretly plotting against them, Johnny poses as a dim-witted bumbler, accepting a job on the ranch as the cook's assistant - a masquerade that could have deadly consequences.

Always the most amiable and down-to-earth cowboy star, Hoot Gibson rarely exerted full creative control over his Westerns, but insisted that, whenever possible, that they be laced with comedy. Hoot's on-screen antics occasionally approached the buffoonish, but audiences of all ages responded favorably to the self-deprecating humor that enriches his pictures. - Ed Hulse

• western