Don "Red" Barry, Republic's answer to Jimmy Cagney, stars in The Apache Kid. Barry plays Pete Dawson, a pugnacious cowboy who dons a mask and becomes a stagecoach robber. It's all in a good cause, however: Dawson is stealing from the town boss (Leroy Mason) who has ripped off a group of miners. Heroine Lynn Merrick is the daughter of the local judge, so naturally she misunderstands Barry's motives, at least until fadeout time.
Acting
Don Barry's scrappy Cagney impression—pure Republic Pictures hustle.
Direction
George Sherman crams a feature's worth of plot into under an hour.
Director
George Sherman
Don 'Red' Barry
Pete Dawson aka The Apache Kid
Lynn Merrick
Barbara Taylor
LeRoy Mason
Nick Barter
Robert Fiske
Joe Walker
John Elliott
Judge John Taylor
Forbes Murray
U. S. Road Commissioner
Monte Montague
Sheriff
Al St. John
Stage Guard Dangle
Fred 'Snowflake' Toones
Snowflake (as Snowflake)
Frank Brownlee
Harry Castleman (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Republic Pictures churned out 66 Westerns in 1941 alone—this was literally Wednesday for them.
The 'Apache Kid' name was pure marketing; no actual Apache character or history appears, reflecting 1940s Hollywood's casual relationship with Indigenous identity.
US
