Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Eddie Dean rode four different horses in his pictures for PRC (Producers Releasing Corporation). In this one he's atop White Cloud, so along with Copper and Flash which I've also seen, the only one I'm still looking for in a Dean picture is War Paint. He's bound to show up sooner or later as Dean's pictures make the rounds on Encore Westerns.Most of these B Westerns are pretty standard with a limited number of plot lines, but this one has some pretty interesting things going on if you pay attention. For his size, Eddie Dean proved to be a pretty good brawler in his films, and he wins a two on one battle at the Silver Dollar Saloon against henchmen Cooper (Lane Bradford) and Quillen (Eddie Parker), but did you notice something? At one point, without even being hit, Quillen ran headfirst into the bar all by himself! Must have misread his cue.Then there's Eddie's decision to take the Regal Pass to cut off the outlaws intending to stop the stagecoach on the way to Ranchito, which led me to ask myself - why wouldn't the bad guys take the Regal Pass themselves? Seems like a no brainer if they were looking to save some time.Dean, generally considered having one of the best singing voices of all the Western cowboy heroes, lends his voice to a couple of tunes here including the title song, which mentions South Dakota as the home of the "Black Hills". The one I got a kick out of though was the humorous sing along with Andy Parker and The Plainsmen - 'Punchinello the Punchy Cow Puncher'. Every line is funnier than the one that went before.As for the story, Eddie and pal Soapy (Roscoe Ates) foil a land mortgage swindle after Flagstone town villain Kirby (Terry Frost) kills ranch owner Hadley for the gold mine discovered on his property. Land agent Henry Allen (George Chesebro) is undermined by his associate Tuttle (William Fawcett), but Eddie makes the save just in time to prevent the deed switch from taking place. What seemed confusing to me though was Eddie's choice of a closing tune when he and Soapy got ready to ride off into the sunset. As pretty Janet Hadley (Shirley Patterson) invites him to stick around as foreman of her ranch, Eddie's saying goodbye while singing 'Let's Go Sparkin'. Talk about sending a mixed message!

Black Hills finds Eddie Dean and sidekick Roscoe Ates coming to the aid of brother and sister Shirley Patterson and Steve Drake after their father has been murdered by veteran western villain Terry Frost. Frost discovers that the father has discovered a rich vein of gold in a cave on the ranch. After that it's kill the father and then try to take the ranch which is heavily mortgaged.In on the dirty scheme is assistant land office commissioner William Fawcett who is heavily in debt to Frost. He conducts a quick land sale to pay the overdue mortgage. Dean survives a scheme to frame him for the commissioner's murder and brings the bad guys to justice. And along the way sings some nice western ballads. Roscoe Ates entertains us with some clumsy attempts at card tricks. He has a very funny scene escaping from a closet where he overhears the villains plan some crimes.Decent enough B western from PRC where Dean reigned as their resident cowboy hero.

Tresspassing villains run across a local ranch owner in his recently discovered goldmine and promptly kill him in order to try and swindle his heirs out of the ranch and the secret mine.Luckily for the son and daughter of the rancher, their old friend Eddie Dean is already on his way to the ranch to work as the new foreman and doesn't mind righting a few wrongs in addition to his work duties.Black Hills is pleasant enough if not particularly memorable entertainment with the requisite amount of gun play and horse riding.Eddie's always good for a few songs, but in this they seem to have been lifted lifted from previous films!With the exception of the brief theatrical run of The Night Rider, a twenty-six minute failed TV pilot with Johnny Cash, this was Dean's final appearance in a theatrical motion picture and the final film produced by poverty row studio Producers Releasing Corporation.