Rimfire (1949) User Reviews

Under Appreciated Little "B" Western Ghost Story!

[bsmith5552 · 6/10 · 20 February 2007]

"Rimfire" is an almost forgotten little gem of a western. In fact, I hadn't heard of it until it's recent DVD release. It was produced by the Lippert Company and directed by the veteran B. Reeves Easton. Easton had been around films since 1915 and this was his final directorial effort. Running at a scant 63 minutes it boasts a fairly large cast of recognizable western players and contains an interesting story line.

Tom Harvey (James Millican) foils a stagecoach holdup and comes into town and takes a job as a deputy sheriff. Heroine Polly Jordan (Mary Beth Hughes, who was on the coach turns out to be the niece of the town sheriff Jim Jordan (Victor Kilian). Harvey confides int the sheriff that he is in fact an under cover army officer in search of some stolen government bullion. Harvey and Polly meanwhile, become attracted to each other.

Gambler, The Abilene Kid (Reed Hadley) who had also been on the coach, is falsely framed for cheating in a card game by saloon owner Barney Bernard (Ray Bennett) and his two henchmen Blazer (John Cason) and Toad (I. Stanford Jolley). Harvey believes in the Kid's innocence but is unable to prove it. In a trial Bernard and his two henchmen testify against him and Judge Gardner (George Cleveland) finds him guilty and sentences him to hang.

Following the Kid's execution, several of the Kid's accusers begin to be murdered by a ghostly figure believed by some to be the ghost of the Kid. A playing card in sequential order is found at the scene of each murder leading all to believe that the Kid is somehow involved. Finally Harvey discovers the identity of the murderer and.............

This was a rare opportunity for veteran character actor Millican to play the lead and romance the heroine. He had been around films since the early 1930s but is probably best remembered for his western roles (on both sides of the law) and for his distinctive speaking voice. His career was cut short by an early death in 1955 at the age of 45.

Others in the cast include Fuzzy Knight and Chris-Pin Martin as the comic relief, Henry Hull as newspaper editor Nathanial (Horace??) Greeley, Glenn Strange as the stagecoach driver and Margia Dean as Lolita a saloon girl.

Take a look at this one if you get the chance.

Interesting, Offbeat B-Picture

[FightingWesterner · 7/10 · 25 December 2009]

The Abiline Kid is set up and convicted by a Kangaroo court for using marked cards. Executed by hanging, he seemingly returns as a ghost to terrorize and wreak vengeance on the guilty town that murdered him.

Rimfire is loaded with great character actors, including James Millican, Reed Hadley, Jason Robards Sr., and Fuzzy Knight, alongside two previous Universal monsters, The Werewolf Of London's Henry Hull and Glen Strange, the last of the classic Frankenstein monsters!

Although it's running time could (and should) have been stretched a little for greater suspense, this is still an entertaining, if compact, western whodunit with lots of great scenes.

It can also be viewed as sort of a forerunner (along with Django Il Bastardo) to Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter. In fact, the three would make a great triple feature.

Surprisingly tight little B, well-done

[fredcdobbs5 · 6/10 · 1 April 2022]

"Rimfire" is a low-budget effort from Lippert. Much of their product was forgettable, but every so often they'd come u with a good one, and this is one of them.

There are no "stars", just a good cross-section of solid, reliable character actors, and that helps a lot. James Millican was a supporting actor in a lot of westerns, but he's the lead here and does a very good job of it. Velvet-voiced Reed Hadley is The Abilene Kid, a gambler framed and hung for cheating at cards, George Cleveland is a conflicted judge, Henry Hull is a crusty newspaper editor, and the rest of the cast is comprised of a variety of familiar western faces--among them Forrest Taylor, Fuzzy Knight, John Cason and Don Harvey--who have more screen time than they usually get, and they all acquit themselves well. There are several interesting plot twists, which you don't usually find in low-rent "B" westerns, and give the film the kind of atmosphere that, again, isn't usually found in "B" westerns. This was veteran director B. Reeves Eason's final film as director--although he did do some second-unit work and directed several episodes of TV series after it--and it's a good one to go out on. Well done.

Forgotten little gem

[VernC · 10 January 2003]

Ignored even when it was released this B western is akin to Audie Murphy's "No Name on the Bullet" as it is a different kind of western, actually a suspense/mystery in a western setting, not a horse opera at all. The cast is an ensemble of reliable character actors doing what they do.

This one is probably lost for ever, but it is an example of what can be accomplished on a starvation budget when a little creativity is applied.

IT'S THE WRITING, STUPID!

Rimfire

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 4 January 2023]

There's quite a lot to enjoy in this quickly paced little spooky western. It all starts with an attempt to hijack the stagecoach, one that is luckily thwarted by "Harvey" (James Millican). One of those he rescues happens to be the neice of the local sheriff, and soon he finds himself deputised. "The Abilene Kid" (Reed Hadley), meantime, gets himself into a bit of bother with some marked cards, and after a cursory court hearing under the jurisdiction of the no-nonsense "Judge Gardner" (George Cleveland) is sentenced to hang. Now the film gets interesting. He was found guilty by public acclamation (i.e. A vote of those in the courtroom, rather than by a formal jury) - 11 to 6. Shortly after his execution, some of the eleven start to go the way of the dodo - and the townsfolk start to suspect a ghost! Could it be the "Kid" back for vengeance on this who wronged him? There's a decent sub-plot about some missing gold, too - just to keep it interesting, and a little romance with "Polly" (Mary Beth Hughes). The ending is a bit rushed, but hough the production is pretty basic and the acting really unremarkable, the whole is better than the sum of the parts and we are presented with an entertaining film for an hour.

Greed & gold go together. Just like greed & death.

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 19 March 2024]

James Millican plays a "drifter" named Tom Harvey hired as a deputy in the small town of "Stringtown", just in time to watch as a gambler named "The Abilene Kid" (Reed Hadley) is accused of winning a card game by cheating. The Kid is relentlessly railroaded into a situation where he inevitably is hung for his "crime". Then, it seems as if his ghost returns for revenge, as several characters are felled by a mystery assailant.

What the viewer first thinks will be a very early example of the "Gothic Western" (or a Western with supernatural leanings) turns out to be something far more perfunctory, getting resolved in a rather routine manner. The plot is all over the map, also involving the theft of a hefty gold deposit, and the machinations of an unscrupulous "boss" (Ray Bennett) whose henchmen rob stagecoaches.

With no major stars to speak of, but a variety of familiar faces just the same (Mary Beth Hughes, Henry Hull, Victor Kilian, Fuzzy Knight, Chris-Pin Martin, George Cleveland, Glenn Strange, Jason Robards Sr., I. Stanford Jolley, etc.), "Rimfire" is, as I said before, a routine B Western, but is still watchable and somewhat interesting. It has good atmosphere, and good performances, with Knight and Martin contributing the comedy relief.

One good thing: "Rimfire" begins with a bang, with a stylish title card and a rousing scene of action right off the bat. Like many a B movie of decades past, it also has a fairly fast-moving plot and a very reasonable, brief run time.

This was the final theatrical directing credit for the director, B. Reeves Eason; he notched up a few subsequent TV credits before passing away seven years later.

Six out of 10.

The Abilene Kid

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 7 June 2011]

If I was writing the script of Rimfire I might have taken this story in an entirely different direction. I think the film had a lot of potential. When first looking at it I was thinking it might be a harbinger of what Clint Eastwood did in High Plains Drifter. If you remember Clint is an other world figure who exacts a terrible vengeance on everyone in his film.

Here Reed Hadley is a luckless gambler the Abilene Kid who gets himself nicely framed for a gold robbery and murder after first being falsely accused of card cheating. After that a whole lot of people start dying and their left with playing cards near the body. The spade suit is used and it goes right into the picture cards.

James Millican who is normally a good character actor is the lead here along with Hadley and he never believed Hadley was guilty. He's an army captain on detached duty for the Secret Service and sheriff Victor Killian makes him a deputy.

The ending is rather strange and disjointed as well. I will say a good red herring is given as the leader of the gang, but the final showdown left a lot to be desired.

Rimfire is interesting and certainly has its supporters, but I think it fails in the execution.

World's longest 63-minute movie, and a contender for worst Western ever

[JimB-4 · 1/10 · 26 February 2009]

With the name B. Reeves Eason in the credits as director, one would not be out of line expecting a fast-paced and action-packed adventure. Eason was widely known and respected for the machine-gun speed of his movies. But upon watching this film, which should be retitled "Misfire," one would not be out of line suspecting that Eason directed it while under anesthesia. James Millican, a not unlikable character player, gets to play the tough guy that all the saloon girls ogle, but he has neither the looks nor the charisma to carry off this kind of Western leading role. There are plenty of fine character actors in this movie, and the plot could conceivably have been used for a tense little programmer. Instead, this one moves like frozen molasses. The actors speak at half speed, the editing is at quarter speed, and there is very little to hold one's attention. The slowness of this movie must be seen to be believed, but please....trust me. It isn't worth that effort.

An odd little western.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 14 November 2012]

"Rimfire" is an odd western for several reasons. First, the film really has no stars in it--just lots and lots of B and C-list supporting actors. Second, the plot itself is rather diffuse and meandering. This doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad film--just not exactly typical.

The film starts with an aborted stage coach robbery and it sure looks as if the film is about an evil boss-man in town whose lackeys are committing the robberies. Well, it ISN'T about this--though the first portion of the film is. The Abilene Kid is a gambler who is accused of using marked cards. In a VERY unlawful sort of hearing, the guy is railroaded and hung. Then the weird stuff begins--those responsible for the handing out this injustice are killed off one after another--with a playing card left with their corpses. You'd think the film is about some sort of ghost--but it turns out not to be. Then, out of the blue, a shipment of stolen United States gold is discovered around the same time the killer is discovered--leading the viewer to wonder exactly what was the film about, anyway?! The bottom line is that this is not even a B-western--it's more of a C-western with poor writing and an odd assortment of minor actors. Not terrible...but also not very good.

The Ghost of the Abilene Kid.

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 17 October 2012]

Rimfire is directed by B. Reeves Eason and jointly written by Ron Ormond, Arthur St. Claire and Frank Wisbar. It stars James Millican, Reed Hadley, Mary Beth Hughes, Henry Hull, Fuzzy Knight and Victor Killian. Music is by Walter Greene and cinematography by Ernest Miller.

Captain Tom Harvey (Millican) is an undercover army officer working in a small Texas town investigating the theft of army gold shipments. Taking on the role of a deputy, he suddenly finds the town gripped by terror as they believe the ghost of a gambler who was wrongly convicted and hanged has come back from the grave to enact revenge.

"Gold and greed, it seems, go together. And so do. So do gold and death"

Clocking in at just over an hour, Rimfire is compact and unfussily directed for maximum impact. There's a slight irk that once the central hanging and conviction enters the story, the film barely has time to unfold the mystery element, in fact so much is crammed into the final twenty minutes you really can't afford to look away. But why would you look away when the film is so interesting in narrative and so visually arresting? The biggest character in the piece is Ernest Miller's black and white photography, low-key lighting with prominent shadows, there's a pessimistic ambiance given the production, a sense that humanity is rotten. Which when coupled with the unusual aspects of the story make this very much a unique Western of the 40s.

Well performed with the likes of Hadley, Hull and Millican turning in professional shows, and with super work from photographer Miller, this rounds out as very much a Western noir worth checking out. 8/10

The hangman's noose creates a ghost on the loose.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 8 July 2015]

When a gambler known as "The Abilene Kid" is tried, convicted and hung for the apparent robbery of the U.S. Gold mint, his spirit seems to return from beyond to haunt and ultimately kill the men who framed him. Everybody in this small western town is running scared, and it is up to a U.S. agent (James Millican) to get to the bottom of this with the help of the local sheriff (Victor Kilian) and his pretty niece (Mary Beth Hughes) who falls in love with him. The slow-moving first half of this rather short B western moves into quite a different mood as it changes to ghost story. Or is it? Like Scooby Doo and other ghost movie spoofs where somebody is obviously using the events of the recent past to get information on the location of the gold. But who is it, and how does the U.S. agent discover the identity? Or is it really a voice from beyond scaring people literally to their doom? This western has various elements of its structure which makes it a rank above the standard cowboy/Indian shoot em' out, but the plot is pretty obvious of where it is going. The photography in the ghostly visits is appropriately dark which adds much needed mood. In spite of obvious plot holes, the film remains an interesting change from the typical western fare audiences were getting at the time. George Cleveland provides some wit as a local judge, while some cornball humor is thrown in by Fuzzy Knight. Another plus with the DVD is the print transfer is quite outstanding, making it look much higher budgeted than many of the public domain transfers of B westerns from Monogram, PRC and other poverty row studios which released dozens of these every year.

OK 'B' Western

[GManfred · 20 October 2010]

This is a good little western from Lippert studios, and I don't understand the low rating by IMDb reviewers. The film is a mystery story and is well-written, taut and compact, and in only 64 minutes. The cast, led by James Millican, does a uniformly good job, and there is nary a bad acting performance in sight from the supporting cast. One is taken aback by seeing suave, urbane Reed Hadley out in the scrubbrush, but it turns out he's the suave, urbane gambler in the story.

Now, we're not talking MGM or Paramount here and so you have to consider economics, but production values are better than expected and there is a good deal of action during this just-over-an-hour affair. Overlook a couple of plot holes and a time-killing romance and you have an entertaining movie which has been unfairly neglected over the years. This was included in a DVD with "Little Big Horn", which is a better picture, but nevertheless, "Rimfire" is still a cut above.

Rimfire

[coltras35 · 8/10 · 27 February 2024]

Millican plays Captain Tom Harvey, who arrives in a dusty New Mexico town looking for stolen shipments of gold. Harvey, undercover as an itinerant cowpoke, confides his real mission to the sheriff (Victor Kilian) and takes a job as deputy.

Meanwhile the Abilene Kid (Reed Hadley), a suave gambler, is framed for cheating in a card game and convicted in a kangaroo court presided over by Judge Gardner (George Cleveland). In a rather shocking development, the Abilene Kid is immediately hung.

Shortly thereafter, various townspeople are murdered one by one, with a playing card left with each body

Rimfire is a gripping little western with good performances, especially by Reed Hadley as the gambler who gets framed and hung - people surrounding his death die with a card placed next to the body. Which indicates that a ghost of the gambler has done this, to exact revenge, which reminds one of High Plains Drifter. Of course, there has to be a reasonable explanation... is there? You have to watch and find out. It might have a short running time but everything is fitted neatly inside - there's a grim atmosphere and it's well-written and fairly suspenseful.