d6a2afd33b A con man posinga lawyer tries to sell copies of a phony law book. Things get serious when he has to defend a young man falsely accused of robbery. Bill Clary has robbed the stage and planted some of the money at Luke Avery&#39;s ranch. Dan Alton arrives at the same time posinga Lawyer to sell his book. When Avery is charged with the robbery, Luke&#39;s sister Ruth gets Dan to take the case. His defense entails robbing another stage. Luke is found innocent but Dan is exposeda stage robber. An excellent Hoot Gibson programmer in which he plays a confidence man posinga lawyer selling phony law books. When a murder takes place, he is called in to defend the accused man. Al Bridge is also excellentthe sheriff looking for exculpatory evidence.<br/><br/>The direction is credited to George Melford, one of the best visual stylists of the silent era, but he shows little flair here. There is no camera movement, but he does have some fun with the cuts. While I sometimes enjoy watching a series B-western (sucha film with Roy Rogers, Tim McCoy or the like), I must admit that most of them have one of only about three or four different plots. As a result, there is a definite sameness about them–and it makes watching multiple films like this a bit of a chore. Because of this, I was thrilled to see &quot;The Cowboy Counselor&quot;–where the plot is different and the hero isn&#39;t all that heroic.<br/><br/>The film begins with a robbery of the stage. The crook tosses incriminating evidence on a nearby homestead and the Sheriff and his posse therefore arrest the wrong man. However, when a huckster (Hoot Gibson) arrives in town posinga lawyer, the jailed man hire him–though he seems to have little idea how to defend this man. So, he resorts to trickery and lying–in other words, he&#39;s all lawyer.<br/><br/>This is a very funny B-western–something you&#39;d never expect. And, with a good unusual script, it makes for quite a film. I also liked Gibson in the film and loved that he did NOT play a very good good-guy! Well worth seeing and a welcome relief from the usual. My score of 8, though high, is in recognition of a B-film with much more to offer than usual.
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