Jim "Sundown" Saunders (Bob Steele) wins $250 in a horse race with Lewis (Hal Price) and, instead of money, Lewis gives him a deed to a 640-acre ranch in the Panamint.Sundown and his pal Smokey (Milburn Morante) head for the ranch and encounter Dad Preston (Jack Rockwell) and his daughter Bess (Catherine Cotter), and discover that the Prestons have plans to buy the ranch from Taggart (Ed Cassidy), posing as a government land agent. Taggart hires Jack Mace (Charles King) to pick a saloon fight with Sundown and, when the fight is stopped, the two decide to finish it out on the trail.Taggart follows and after Sundown whups up on Mace and rides off, Taggart shoots Mace in the back. Mace is found by a passer-by and taken to town, where Sheriff Baker (Earl Dwire) concludes the unconsious man was shot by Sundown, and calls for his arrest. Taggart meets Preston and Bess at the ranch and Preston hands over the purchase money. Later, Taggart ambushes Preston and steals his wallet to get the fake deed back. Taggart,whose busy day has only begun, meets with bandit leader Burke (Edmund Cobb) and they go to his hotel room and plan a bank raid for the next day. Meanwhile, Mace, before dying, tells the Sheriff that Sundown wasn't the man who shot him, so Sundown and the Sheriff are outside the window and overhear the robbery plans. Preston, found by Smokey and Sundown, voices his suspicions of Taggart as being his assailant. After Sundown, the Sheriff and a town-raised posse stop Burke and his bandits from robbing the bank, the ever-busy and never-say-die Taggart kidnaps Bess and takes of with her in a wagon. Sundown is in pursuit.—Les Adams
character name in title, horse race, cowboy, horse, grindhouse film, hostage, remake, stock footage, posse rider, ruse, shootout, murder, investigation, independent film, damsel in distress, held at gunpoint, deception, false accusation, frame up, homesteader
In less than five years, Steele made 52 Westerns.
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