Another Reliable Second Feature

Can This Outlaw's Son (1957) Be Saved?

Badman Dane Clark comes home to see his kid much as did Gregory Peck in The Gunfighter, only this visit goes sour when DC is framed for murder and the boy heads for similar ruin. This western takes bite from several genre apples, inc. sins of the father visited upon wayward juve, in this case Ben Cooper, who must field tempt of stage robbers plus torrid Cecile Rogers vying with good girl Lori Nelson for his clinch. First-billed Clark is offscreen for a long middle, but probably wasn't missed. He's marquee lure, but teen concerns take precedent. Another of names past peak, if indeed he had one, Clark was solid enough player to carve meat off hambone like this, westerns a refuge as they were for many who'd once been star-hopeful. Lesley Selander directs capably, as was always case. What rescue he performed on a multitude of saddlers. Outlaw's Son was fed into distributing UA's chipper by Bel Air partners Aubrey Schenck and Howard Koch, the pair tireless for what seemed a feature per week. How I wish these two had left an oral history (maybe they did and I've not seen it).