In 1963, Audie Murphy appeared in "Gunfight at Comanche Creek", which itself was a remake of the 1957 film "Last of the Badmen" starring George Montgomery. One might get the idea that those Westerns in turn might have been inspired by "Flaming Bullets", a 1945 PRC picture starring the Texas Rangers - Tex Ritter, Dave 'Tex' O'Brien, and Guy Wilkerson. The plot of all three flicks had an outlaw gang breaking out a non-allied criminal from jail, only to track him down, kill him, and turn in the body for the reward money. The later stories threw in an additional element, by having the jailbird join the bad guys for a while, fronting their jobs, and then getting the ax when the reward money increased with his notoriety.
All of that probably sounds a lot more interesting than the actual execution in "Flaming Bullets". Working with a miniscule budget on a tight schedule, veteran director Harry Fraser had a hard time making this one even slightly believable. At one point, the baddies 'kill' impostor outlaw Steve Carson (O'Brien), but never actually check to see if he's dead. So when Ranger Tex Haines (Ritter) arrives at the outlaws' cabin, Carson gets up as good as new!
Then there's the whole business about a reward for capturing the outlaw who was sprung from jail. Why wasn't that reward ever paid when the guy on the poster was captured in the first place? See what I mean.
On top of that, Tex Ritter plays against hero type by getting knocked off his horse when he runs into a tree! I'm surprised that he actually agreed to do a scene like that, being the lead cowboy and all. Speaking of which, it seemed to me that O'Brien's character got more screen time and was better looking than Ritter, but it was the elder Tex who sang the songs. I couldn't help thinking though, that Ritter might have been commenting on the picture when he broke out with 'All I Do is Hang My Head and Cry'.
All of that probably sounds a lot more interesting than the actual execution in "Flaming Bullets". Working with a miniscule budget on a tight schedule, veteran director Harry Fraser had a hard time making this one even slightly believable. At one point, the baddies 'kill' impostor outlaw Steve Carson (O'Brien), but never actually check to see if he's dead. So when Ranger Tex Haines (Ritter) arrives at the outlaws' cabin, Carson gets up as good as new!
Then there's the whole business about a reward for capturing the outlaw who was sprung from jail. Why wasn't that reward ever paid when the guy on the poster was captured in the first place? See what I mean.
On top of that, Tex Ritter plays against hero type by getting knocked off his horse when he runs into a tree! I'm surprised that he actually agreed to do a scene like that, being the lead cowboy and all. Speaking of which, it seemed to me that O'Brien's character got more screen time and was better looking than Ritter, but it was the elder Tex who sang the songs. I couldn't help thinking though, that Ritter might have been commenting on the picture when he broke out with 'All I Do is Hang My Head and Cry'.