Rusty Rides Alone (1933)

Adhering to an old Hollywood tradition, Tim McCoy's dog, Silver King, earned billing above the heroine, 1931 WAMPAS Baby Star Barbara Weeks, in this typically workmanlike Columbia Western. McCoy and Silver King come to the aid of Mollie Martin (Weeks), whose brother, Tom, has been kidnapped by Bart Quillan (Rockliffe Fellowes), a neighboring sheep rancher planning to rule the entire valley with his equally unsavory brothers. Along the way, McCoy is befriended by gunman Poe Powers (Wheeler Oakman), whose fiery girlfriend, Mona Quillan (Dorothy Burgess), does not approve of her family's grand schemes. Searching for Tom Martin, McCoy is captured and tied up by Quillan and his brothers but is rescued by the clever Silver King, who chews through the ropes. Returning with Poe, Tim defeats the Quillans and secures Tom's release. Rusty Rides Alone proved the final film of Rockliffe Fellowes, a silent screen star best remembered as Owen, the reformed gangster in Raoul Walsh's The Regeneration (1915). His brothers were played by Edmund Cobb, Wally Wales, and Jay Wilsey (aka Buffalo Bill Jr.), all former Western stars in their own right. Interestingly, Wheeler Oakman, cast as the Boss Menace in most of the McCoy Westerns, switched sides this time around. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi