The Night Rider
The Night Rider
| 01 January 1962 (USA)
The Night Rider Trailers

Originally a pilot for a series called "Gallaway House" that was never picked up. The patrons of a late-19th Century America theater flock to see the latest production, a Western tale of redemption. Johnny Laredo, a middle-aged gunfighter fleeing his many enemies by traveling at night, stops briefly at the campfire of Tim Dawson's team of cattle drivers for a cup of coffee and a bit of human companionship. Dawson offers Laredo a job, but Laredo is afraid to return to Wyoming where he killed a number of men. Stopping in a small Texas town for supplies before heading across the Mexican border, the gunfighter is forced to fight a inexperienced youngster trying to make a reputation and kills him. Even though he is acquitted, the gunfighter has had enough and returns to Dawson, accepts the job, and hopefully, the opportunity for redemption.

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Reviews
FightingWesterner

The Night Rider was the pilot episode for a rejected anthology series entitled "Gallaway House", awkwardly bookended with a Mr. Gallaway greeting and saying goodbye to patrons in his old west playhouse.Whether it was a western or country music themed show, I'm not sure, but it did see release as an added attraction in predominantly southern drive-ins.The meat of the program is a very low budget but excellent and atmospheric vehicle for the man in black, who portrays Johnny Laredo, a sullen and haunted gunslinger (reminiscent of Gregory Peck in The Gunfighter) traveling by night in order to avoid his many enemies.Also on hand are country music legend Merle Travis (who also sings and plays) and 1940's B-western star Eddie Dean.Basically, the plot is a dramatic retelling of Cash's hit song "Don't Take Your Guns To Town", ending with Johnny singing it around the campfire with Merle and Eddie.Great stuff.

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