The Topeka Terror (1945) Allan Lane, Linda Stirling, Earle Hodgins, Twinkle Watts Movie Review

The Topeka Terror (1945)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Allan Lane in The Topeka Terror (1945)

A Lane in Cherokee Strip

In the town of Red Dust Trent Parker (Frank Jacquet), and his henchmen, have come up with a scheme to falsify claims so that they own the best land in the Cherokee Strip which honest settlers thought they were getting. Government agent, Clay Stevens (Allan Lane), goes under cover as an amiable drifter helps to organize the settlers to make a stand against the corruption with Ben Jode (Roy Barcroft) acting as sheriff to keep control of the situation.

Rule #1 of western movies club; never watch one of these old one westerns after you have just watched a Robert Mitchum western as you are going to end up disappointed. That is what happened today having not long ago watched the impressive "Man with the Gun" I sat down to watch "The Topeka Terror" and quickly found myself under whelmed and easily distracted. Of course this some times happens even if you haven't watched a Mitchum western as these old one hour westerns were often a much of a much ness and "The Topeka Terror" is as much of a much ness as the next western.

Now that may sound harsh as "The Topeka Terror" had all the ingredients that any young western fan would have wanted back in 1945. Firstly we have Allan Lane delivering a solid and typical Allan Lane performance as are good guy, we also have some dodgy businessmen who stand around whispering and plotting, plus we have some comedy in the shape of Roy Barcroft as the settler putting himself forwards for election. Heck there is even a damsel for the heroic Clay Stevens to charm but all these things you will find in pretty much any other one hour western and sadly there isn't anything to make this memorable and stand out from the crowd.

What this all boils down to is that "The Topeka Terror" is a routine Allan Lane western which whilst entertaining has nothing going on to make it stand out from the crowd of other one hour westerns.


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