Thunder in the Desert
Thunder in the Desert
NR | 08 March 1938 (USA)
Thunder in the Desert Trailers

Bob arrives looking for the killer of his uncle. When the Sheriff chases him and his partner Rusty, Reno thinks they are the men he is looking for and takes them into his gang. There Bob finds his uncle's gun and knows he has found the right gang. However he realizes the gang has an unknown leader and he sets out to find him.

Reviews
Michael Morrison

Start with an excellent cast in a fair story with a good mix of locations, including a railroad boxcar, the outdoors West, and a ranch, with some funny scenes -- right up to the end -- and not excessive violence, surprisingly well directed by Sam Newfield.Bob Steele was a very good actor, but he was a great cowboy, and maybe an even greater action star. (I always loved watching him in a fight scene, and wondered how he would have fared as a boxer -- between movies.)He was also a very good-looking man, and a viewer will see all those assertions proved in this movie.Horace Murphy is not quite believable as a tough sheriff, but he is usually acceptable in any role. He disappointed me in one scene because he mounted his horse like a dude, not a Westerner.Budd Buster, though, gives a superlative performance as the sheriff's bumbling deputy. Beautifully underplayed, showing skill by him and the director.Assorted bad guys switch from clowns to serious menacers, always believably, and all of them give great performances.As a fan of Charles, here Charlie, King, I loved watching him in this role from his slender youth. I think he is generally revered, but I don't know if he really gets his due as an actor.In one fight, I wonder if he and his opponent (I won't say who) didn't get actually injured. Beautifully realistic with two of the ablest action stars in Hollywood history.If you're not subscribed to Westerns on the Web, you can find "Thunder in the Desert" on YouTube and believe me it's worth looking for.

... View More
JohnHowardReid

"Thunder in the Desert" (1938) need not detain us long. Admittedly, by the humble standards of director Sam Newfield, it's not totally bad at all. It's not very good either, but it does pass the time agreeably enough, thanks to the strenuous efforts of Bob Steele. (Sad to see him heading the cast of a Supreme Pictures effort, although admittedly that Poverty Row company did distribute one of Bob's best pictures, "The Last of the Warrens", in 1936). Don Barclay, who plays Rusty, also makes a commendable effort to keep us entertained, and it's always a pleasure to see Charles King in action as the perennial baddie. This title is available on a very good Alpha DVD as the number one feature on a disc that actually supplies one of Bob's very best films as a bonus, namely Son of Oklahoma.

... View More