''Cowboy Counsellor'' is a 1932 American

Pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film starring

Hoot Gibson Edmund Richard "Hoot" Gibson (August 6, 1892 – August 23, 1962) was an American rodeo champion, film actor, film director, and producer. While acting and stunt work began as a sideline to Gibson's focus on rodeo, he successfully transitione ...

and directed by

George Melford George H. Melford (born George Henry Knauff, February 19, 1877 – April 25, 1961) was an American stage and film actor and director. Often taken for granted as a director today, the stalwart Melford's name by the 1920s was, like Cecil B. DeMil ...

. It mixed in strong elements of

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

with

courtroom drama A legal drama is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice play ...

. One reviewer deemed it "the best of Gibson's films for

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

."The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:''The Cowboy Counsellor''

AFI Catalog of Feature Films The ''AFI Catalog of Feature Films'', also known as the ''AFI Catalog'', is an ongoing project by the American Film Institute (AFI) to catalog all commercially-made and theatrically exhibited American motion pictures from the birth of cinema in ...

Retrieved November 19, 2022.

Plot

Dan Alton is a

con artist A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...

, posing as a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

in order to sell copies of a phony

law book A law book is a book about law. It is possible to make a distinction between "law books" on the one hand, and "books about law" on the other. This distinction is "useful". A law book is "a work of legal doctrine". It consists of "law talk", that i ...

. When Bill Clary robs a stagecoach, and plants some of the stolen money at the ranch of Luke Avery, Avery's sister beautiful sister Ruth ropes an instantly smitten Alton into being Avery's defense attorney. As part of his strategy to defend Avery, Alton plans to pull off another stagecoach robbery.

Cast

as Dan Alton *

Sheila Bromley Sheila Bromley (born Sheila LeGay; October 31, 1911 – July 23, 2003), (The reference work ''Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2003'' gave her birth date as October 31, 1907). sometimes billed as Sheila LeGay, Sheila Manners, Sheila Manno ...

as Ruth Avery * Jack Rutherford as Bill Clary *Skeeter Bill Robbins as Deputy Lafe Walters *

Al Bridge Alfred Morton Bridge (February 26, 1891 – December 27, 1957) was an American character actor who played mostly small roles in over 270 films between 1931 and 1954. Bridge's persona was an unpleasant, gravel-voiced man with an untidy mous ...

as Sheriff Matt Farraday *

Fred Gilman Frederick Joseph Gilman is an American physicist and the Buhl Professor of Theoretical Physics Emeritus at Carnegie Mellon University. Early life and education Gilman was born on October 9, 1940. He grew up in East Lansing, Michigan and receiv ...

as Luke Avery *Bobby Nelson as Bobby Avery * William Humphrey as Judge Kendell *

Gordon De Main Gordon De Main (born Floyd Wood; September 28, 1886 – March 5, 1954)''Who Was Who on Screen'', p. 119 c.1977 by Evelyn Mack Truitt *note his publication claims his date of birth as 1897-March 5, 1967/ref> was an American film actor. He ...

as Replaced by Lorch *

Merrill McCormick William Merrill McCormick (February 5, 1892 – August 19, 1953) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 250 films between 1916 and 1953. William Merrill McCormick was born on February 5, 1892, in Denver, Colorado. McCormick ap ...

as Bearded Prisoner * Sam Allen as Hotel Clerk

References

External links

* * * 1932 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films Films about con artists Films directed by George Melford 1930s American films English-language Western (genre) films {{1930s-US-film-stub