''Hot Lead'' is a 1951 Western film.Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, ''The RKO Story.'' New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p261 It stars

Tim Holt Charles John "Tim" Holt III (February 5, 1919 – February 15, 1973) was an American actor. He was a popular Western star during the 1940s and early 1950s, appearing in forty-six B westerns released by RKO Pictures. In a career spanning mo ...

and

Joan Dixon Joan Dixon (June 6, 1930 in Norfolk, Virginia – February 20, 1992 in Los Angeles) was an American film and television actress in the 1950s. She is known for her role in the film noir ''Roadblock'' (1951). Career Dixon appeared in ten fil ...

and is directed by

Stuart Gilmore Stuart Gilmore (March 8, 1909 – November 19, 1971) was an American film editor who had over 45 editing credits along with 10 directing credits. He was nominated for three Academy Awards with the last nomination being posthumous. Career Gilmor ...

. The production uses footage from an earlier Holt film, ''

Saddle Legion ''Saddle Legion'' is a 1951 American Western film directed by Lesley Selander and starring Tim Holt. It co-stars Dorothy Malone, who was one of Holt's most prestigious co-stars. She was borrowed from Warner Bros. Plot In the Old West T ...

'', one of the rare times this happened in Holt's movies. It was the last film made featuring Lightning, Holt's Palomino horse in 27 movies. He was replaced by Sun Dance, another Palomino.

Plot

Cast

as Tim Holt *

as Gail Martin * Richard Martin as Chito Rafferty *

Ross Elliott Ross Elliott (born Elliott Blum, June 18, 1917 – August 12, 1999) was an American television and film character actor. He began his acting career in the Mercury Theatre, where he performed in ''The War of the Worlds'', Orson Welles' fam ...

as Dave Collins *

John Dehner John Dehner (DAY-ner) (born John Dehner Forkum, also credited Dehner Forkum; November 23, 1915February 4, 1992) was an American stage, radio, film, and television actor. From the late 1930s to the late 1980s, he amassed a long list of performan ...

as Turk Thorne *

Robert J. Wilke Robert Joseph Wilke (May 18, 1914 – March 28, 1989) was an American film and television actor noted primarily for his roles as villains, mostly in Westerns. Early years Wilke was a native of Cincinnati. Before going into acting, he h ...

as Stoney

Reception

According to film critic

Tom Stempel Tom Stempel (born 1941) is an American film scholar and critic. He is a Professor Emeritus in Film at Los Angeles City College, where he taught from 1971 to 2011. His students at LACC included writer director, Maggie Greenwald and Karen Moncrieff ...

''Hot Lead'' was one Holt written by William Lively. Unlike Houston and Repp, he had no feel for the Tim-Chito relationship. At the end of the film they ride off arguing, something Tim and Chito never did. The film was directed by Stuart Gilmore, one of only six features he directed. He soon realized he was a better editor than director and had a long career as a film editor.

References

External list

* * * * 1951 films American Western (genre) films 1951 Western (genre) films RKO Pictures films American black-and-white films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films {{1950s-Western-film-stub