A cowboy called The Thunderbolt Kid comes to the aid of a town that is being threatened by outlaws who don't want a railroad to go through the town.
Practical Effects
Ken Maynard's actual horse Tarzan steals every scene with ridiculous stunts.
Acting
Maynard's smirky charm makes this feel like a cowboy comedy accidentally.
Production
Shot in six days on Poverty Row—every corner cut is visible and delightful.
Director
Alan James
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ken Maynard was one of the highest-paid western stars of the silent era, but by 1933 his alcoholism had made him difficult to work with—this film was made for tiny independent company KBS precisely because majors wouldn't touch him.
The railroad-as-villain plot ironically celebrates the very transportation system that killed the real Wild West, making this a unconscious elegy for the genre itself.
US
