The Last Bandit (1949)
Director:
Joseph Kane
Writers:
Thames Williamson (screenplay), Luci Ward (story)
Stars:
Bill Elliott, Lorna Gray, Forrest Tucker
Republic's program westerns of the 1940s fell into two categories: the Saturday-matinee fare of Roy Rogers, Allan "Rocky" Lane et. al., and the more adult-oriented William Elliot vehicles. In The Last Bandit, Elliot and Forest Tucker play a couple of James-like bandit brothers, Frank and James Plummer. Deciding to go straight, Frank adopts a new name and takes a job as an express guard. James assumes that Frank is merely playing possum, intending to return to banditry when the time is ripe. But Frank is serious about reforming, setting the stage for an extreme and violent form of sibling rivalry at the climax. Andy Devine eschews his usual comedy relief as the railroad detective who decides to risk hiring Frank, while Adrian Booth offers another of her intelligent leading-lady characterizations. The Last Bandit was lensed in Republic's Trucolor process, which made up in vibrancy what it lacked in stability.
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