Watching: Topeka

Overview

Bill Elliot emulates his idol William S. Hart in the superior western Topeka. Elliot plays the archetypal Good Bad Man, hired to kick the crooked element out of a small town. A hard-drinking, hard-living man, Elliot entertains thoughts of taking over the town himself for the benefit of his own gang. After several reels of soul-searching, Elliot decides to honor his promise to clean up the town for its decent citizens. Evidently director Thomas Carr rented a camera crane for this Allied Artists production, since the camera performs remarkable calisthenics, the kind not normally seen in a medium-budget western.