Customer Reviews

Spade Cooley: The Silver Bandit/The Kid From Gower Gulch

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Spade Cooley was not your typical B Western "hero". The cowboy movies where he played the lead character seemed like a parody or even a satirical commentary (intentionally or not) on B singing cowboys of that period. This Alpha DVD contains two of his rare three movies where he played lead. Alpha obtained somewhat passable to good copies of prints and released these in DVD. Despite all, Cooley can sing and his western songs have the bounce that Autry's or Rogers' do not have. Unlike the two, Cooley's personal life took a tumble later in his carrer when he was convicted of killing his wife. You'd never expect it from the soft spoken cowboy hero you see on the screen.

This video is for B Western buffs only. Spade Cooley, who was a great fiddle player and band leader, produced some of his own pictures including these. They make B Westerns look like the production values of Gone With The Wind. However, he was one of the very few B Western stars that filled his movies with humor. They are comedies with Spade as the butt of the joke. He looks a bit like a shorter wider Roy Rogers, but unfortunately that's where any semblance to acting ends. I had fun watching these and remembering my childhood, but if you are looking for good B Westerns, pass on this.