Directed by Edward Killy
Having escaped the stock company of the Hopalong Cassidy films, actor Robert Mitchum was groomed by RKO to be its new B Western star after Tim Holt joined the military.West of the Pecos was Mitchum’s second star turn in the genre, after Nevada, both Zane Grey adaptations, here playing Pecos, a fun-loving cowpoke battling to clear his name of a murder he didn’t commit. Along the way, he crosses paths with a family of vacationing Easterners whose eldest daughter, Rill, (Barbara Hale) has disguised herself as a man to better blend in on the range. Terrific action comes punctuated with gender-bending cheek—offering his sleeping bag to the “boy” on a cold night, Pecos urges, “Come on, get in and cuddle”—suggesting Mitchum’s versatility with genre material that didn’t always play it straight.
RKO. Producer: Herman Schlom. Based on the novel by Zane Grey. Screenwriter: Norman Houston. Cinematographer: Harry J. Wild. Editor: Roland Gross.Cast: Robert Mitchum, Barbara Hale, Richard Martin, Thurston Hall, Rita Corday.
35mm, b/w, 60 min.
