The Singing Deputy
Tom Bentley (Fred Scott) plans two things; one is to marry his girl Alice Denton (Phoebe Logan) and the other is to take over from his father (Frank LaRue) as Sheriff when he eventually retires. In the means time Tom, along with his dad and fellow deputy, Fuzzy (Al St. John) are after outlaw Scar Adams (Charles King). Trouble is that Scar Adams is in fact Alice's brother Jim and when he murders Tom's dad he vows to bring him in much to the concern of Alice who when she learns that Scar is her brother keeps it secret.
Fred Scott was an actor for 16 years but many of his movies were made in the mid to late 30s where he was another one of those actors in poverty row, churning out westerns with remarkable frequency, well he did make 6 westerns in 1937 alone. But whilst Scott was a solid western actor, often finding himself paired up with western regular Al St. John in that comedic role of Fuzzy his westerns never really stood out from the crowd.
That brings me to "The Fighting Deputy" which has all the usual ingredients of westerns from this era. We have the aforementioned Al St. John giving us slapstick, we have the delightful Phoebe Logan providing the sweet love interest, Charles King giving us classic bad guy and of course Fred Scott giving us a handsome singing cowboy. But beyond a moment of slapstick there is nothing which stands out with everything ending up being solid but forgettable.
What this all boils down to is that like so many of these westerns from the 1930s "The Fighting Deputy" is watchable but not overly entertaining and as such is another one of those movies you watch to tick off of a list.
