Buzz Barton Movies

"Robert J. Horner," wrote film historian Don Miller, "was a man with one leg, small resources and his artistic pretensions were forthrightly nonexistent." In addition to his missing limb, Horner was also sans one eye, both handicaps the results of a car accident. Despite these physical setbacks, Horner was one of the most prolific producer-directors in what was then called Gower Gulch, the ramshackle companies inhabiting the netherworld of Hollywood filmmaking. Among Horner's stars were former luminaries such as Art Acord, Ted Wells, Fred Church, Jack Perrin and boy actor Buzz Barton. The latter three, along with Perrin's wife, Josephine Hill, headed the cast of this ramshackle western affair in which a former outlaw (Perrin) eludes the authorities by masquerading as a cowboy. The ancient plot hadn't improved with age, and Horner's parsimonious production methods were no help. The Apache Kid's Escape is only notable for having the hero lose the leading lady to another man (Church). In fact, throughout the film Perrin pays more attention to heroine Hill's teenage sister (Virginia Ashcroft)! ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

From Big 4 Film Corp., Breed of the West stars former silent cowboy Wally Wales, in his second talkie, as Wally Weldon, a young cowboy who encounters a lost youth searching for his father. Wally takes the boy, Jim Bradley (Buzz Barton), back to the ranch where the kid obtains the job of cook's helper. While performing his duties, Jim learns that his immediate boss (George Gerwing) and Longrope Wheeler (Robert Walker), the ranch foreman, are planning to rob their employer, Colonel Sterner (Lafe McKee). When Wally finds Jim wounded by one of Longrope's henchmen, the Colonel admits to his daughter, Betty (Virginia Brown Faire), that the child is her long-lost brother. There is a second attempt to rob Sterner but Wally forces the cook to confess and the evil Longrope is arrested by the sheriff (Hank Bell). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

FBO's little red-headed cowboy hero Buzz Barton and grizzled Frank Rice once again rights the wrongs of the West in this pleasant oater which was augmented with a music score and various sound effects. This time, the two friends head below the border to the Mexican village of Cajón. The villagers are terrorized by a mysterious outlaw known only as El Lobo and divided in the question of marriage between the mayor's son, Francisco (Duncan Renaldo) and the fiery Dolores (Natalie Joyce). The mayor himself (Tom Lingham) favors a match between Dolores and American Pete Sangor (Bill Patton), while Red Hepner (Barton) and sidekick Hank Robbins (Rice) actively campaign on behalf of Francisco. Red is jailed after pelting Sangor with tomatoes and is thus of no use when the American kidnaps Francisco. During their subsequent search for Francisco, Red and Hank learn that Sangor is actually El Lobo and the film ends with the inevitable showdown on Cajón's main street. Veteran comedian Milburn Morante, who had replaced Rice as Hank Robbins in the previous "Red Hepner" release, The Little Savage, returned, this time in a supporting role. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

FBO's popular boy rider Buzz Barton attempts to save the townspeople whose water supply is held hostage by a villain (Tom Lingham). Along with sidekick Milburn Morante, little Buzz manages to drive the villain into the desert where he, in danger of dying from thirst, willingly agrees to charge a fair price for his water. The Barton westerns were directed by Louis King, the less-talented but prolific brother of Henry King. Like Henry, Louis worked well into the 1950s, albeit in much lesser circumstances. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

FBO's juvenile cowboy hero, Buzz Barton, once again played Red Hepner in this pleasant, if minor, silent western. With his gruff sidekick, Hank Robbins (Frank Rice), Red comes to the rescue of Pap Curtis (James Welch), the owner of a medicine show who is falsely accused of payroll theft. The real culprit, however, is one Cal Rogers (Ethan Laidlaw), who Red catches singlehandedly. Meanwhile, Pap Curtis' daughter Sally (Betty Welch) and the sheriff (Bert Moorehouse) have fallen in love and plan to marry. James and Betty Welch were father and daughter in real life as well. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Russet-haired boy rider Buzz Barton again plays Red Hepner in this average FBO oater, which was obviously geared toward the small fry. This time, the studio has provided little Red with an unscrupulous half-brother who conspires with the ubiquitous crooked foreman to sell the family homestead. Red and sidekick Sidewinder Steve (Frank Rice) of course manage to save the day and restore law and order. The not-so-original story for this sagebrush tale was provided by prolific western director Robert North Bradbury, the father of yet another FBO cowboy, Bob Steele. Leading lady Dorothy Kitchen later changed her name to Nancy Drexel and played the second female lead in German director F.W. Murnau's highly touted Four Devils (1929). The film was a notorious flop, however, and Drexel returned to the realm of "B"-westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

FBO, a minor poverty-row company run by Presidential father Joseph P. Kennedy, cranked out a seemingly endless stream of low-budget oaters starring the likes of Bob Custer, Tom Tyler and Bob Steele. One of the most appealing personalities on the studio roster was freckled Buzz Barton, a 12-year-old boy rider who starred in the "Red Hepner" series. In this, the series premiere, orphaned Red stumbles into the den of a gang of cattle rustlers. He teams up with a cantankerous old-timer (Frank Rice, whose character, Hank Robbins, became a regular in the Hepner series), and the two manage not only to bring the rustlers to justice, but also rescue a cavalry officer's pretty daughter (Lorraine Eason) from her Mexican abductors. Supplying romantic interest for Eason was one Sam Nelson, who also functioned as an assistant director at FBO. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide