a5c7b9f00b A cowboy looking for his missing father, poses as an outlaw and joins the gang he thinks is responsible. In 1936, director/writer John P. McCarthy would recycle this film again in Tex Ritter's first starring western "Song of the Gringo." Here, feigning flight from the law,Jimmy Henderson (<a href=">Bob Steele), posing as outlaw Jim Smith (the Oklahoma Cyclone) maneuvers his way into the gang of ranch foreman McKim (<a href=">Charles King)), aka Black Diablo, and Jim is immediately attracted to Carmelita Carlos (<a href=">Rita Rey)), daughter of ranch owner Dan Pablo Carlos (<a href=">Hector V. Sarno), who is unaware of the outlaw activities of his foreman and most of the ranch hands. The gang robs a bank and goes across the border, where McKim is keeping prisoner Sheriff Henderson (<a href=">Fred Burns),Jim's father and the discovery of whose whereabouts was Jim's reason for joining the gang. Outrunning a posse is cowpoke Jim Smith(Bob Steele), also known as the Oklahoma Cyclone. He takes refuge in an outlaw hideout run by the Black Diablo(Charles King), who is suspected of holding Smith's father hostage. Pretending to be an outlaw himself, the Oklahoma Cyclone romances and sings to a charming Mexican girl(Rita Rey). Good thing he shoots better than he sings. When Black Diablo decides to make a raid across the border, Smith goes along thinking that is where his father is being held captive. A grainy black and white dusty rootin' tootin' cowboy flick fun to watch. Also in the cast: Al St. John and Cliff Lyons. Watching The Oklahoma Cyclone, it becomes apparent that the producers knew little about making a sound picture and just dove in head first. While their intentions are quite admirable, the finished product is not.<br/><br/>The film's nearly all talk, with several songs and musical interludes, but hardly any action. Most of the actors, apparently unused to the sound medium, are very stilted, speaking very slow and very clear, particularly Charles King. Meanwhile, the Spanish accented actors are barely intelligible.<br/><br/>I do wonder though, how well this played to audiences in 1930, not used to talking pictures.<br/><br/>On the plus side, star Bob Steele appears to be singing his own songs and leading lady Rita Rey is very beautiful, even if I cannot understand a word she says!<br/><br/>This is the first full-length western featuring iconic sidekick Al "Fuzzy" St. John. Even at this early date he manages to steal an early scene, even without the benefit of dialog, as he stands to the side and spits long streams of tobacco juice past the other actors as they speak!<br/><br/>One frame has St. John almost entirely off-screen, but closest to the camera, launching a stream of spit that arcs across the picture like a half rainbow, landing right in the bottom-center of the screen, distracting the audience from the other actors!<br/><br/>Eight years later, Steele and St. John would be back together, often with King as the heavy, in Producers Releasing Corporation's series of Billy the kid films.
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