Sheriff of Sage Valley (1942) starring Buster Crabbe, Al St. John, Dave O'Brien, Maxine Leslie, Charles King, John Merton, Kermit Maynard, Hal Price directed by Sam Newfield Movie Review

Sheriff of Sage Valley (1942)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Buster Crabbe in Sheriff of Sage Valley (1942)

Billy the Sheriff

Billy (Buster Crabbe) and his sidekicks Jeff (Dave O'Brien) and Fuzzy (Al St. John) plan to hold up the stage, not for the money but the wanted posters that are on board as once again Billy and his friends are being wrongly accused of another crime. But instead of robbing the stage they end up saving it from another bunch of outlaws except they are too late to save the sheriff who was killed although Billy suspects the sheriff's murderer was in the coach and not one of the outlaws. Billy and his pals head in to town where Billy reluctantly agrees to become the new sheriff as the town of Sage Valley is plagued by outlaws and crooked businesses which Billy learns are a front for Kansas Ed (Buster Crabbe) who is a dead ringer for the new sheriff.

The minute you discover that in "Sheriff of Sage Valley" movie star Buster Crabbe not only plays Billy the Kid again but also a second character called Kansas Ed you can guess how the story will end up playing out. Yet the predictability of it shouldn't be of any surprise as "Sheriff of Sage Valley" is one in a series of movies featuring Buster Crabbe playing Billy the Kid as the misunderstood outlaw and was little more than a 57 minute western distraction for young boys in 1942 who longed for Saturday mornings to go to the cinema.

Now what does that really mean, well as I said "Sheriff of Sage Valley" is predictable and not just when it comes to the story but also when it comes to the action and comedy as Billy learns that a crooked saloon is swindling land owners out of their homes. Buster typically does the handsome hero thing with the help of sidekick Jeff whilst Fuzzy once again provides the comedy relief.

But whilst "Sheriff of Sage Valley" is really just a bit of western nonsense there are some memorable scenes from Fuzzy getting all embarrassed when a girl smiles at him to the initial idea that Billy and the gang were going to hold up the stagecoach only to steal the wanted posters.

What this all boils down to is that "Sheriff of Sage Valley" is no better or worse than any of the other Billy the Kid movies which Buster Crabbe made and so is now more of a movie for those whose love of westerns extends past the point of being simple entertainment.


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