Laramie, The

Heavily trimmed prior to release, this entry in the Charles Starrett "Durango Kid" Western series for Columbia includes leading man Starrett dressed up as John Wayne's stunt double Yakima Canutt in order to match an entire sequence of stock footage lifted from the classic Stagecoach (1939). Starrett plays his usual double-role as Steve (surname Holden this time around) and the Durango Kid, working desperately to prove that gun-runner Cronin (Robert J. Wilke) killed Chief Eagle (Chief Shooting Star) in order to exploit an Indian war. To flush out Cronin and his cronies, Steve gets help from shoe repairman Smiley Burnette and the fort commandant's young son (Tommy Ivo). Yodeling specialist Elton Britt performs his own "Chime Bells" and William Shakespeare Hays' "Mollie Darlin" while Smiley Burnette takes care of Who Don't?" and "The Happy Cobbler), both self-composed.