Oklahoma Badlands (1948)
Director:
Yakima Canutt
Writer:
Robert Creighton Williams (original screenplay)
Stars:
Allan Lane, Black Jack, Eddy Waller
Legendary stunt coordinator and second-unit director Yakima Canutt was the man in the director's chair for Republic's Oklahoma Badlands. Canutt makes certain that his star, former Notre Dame football player Allan "Rocky" Lane, is given a real workout in the course of the film's 59 minutes. The plot finds Lane posing as the new owner of a ranch, the better to foil the villains who plan to take over the ranch for their own nefarious purposes. Our hero's ruse is exposed when it is revealed that the actual owner is a young woman, one Leslie Rawlins (Mildred Coles). This places both Lane and Leslie in dire peril at the hands of main villain Sanders (Roy Barcroft). Perhaps as a favor for past services rendered, director Canutt casts one of his fellow stuntmen, Dale Van Sickel, in an important speaking role.