''The Return of Wildfire'', also known as Black Stallion, is a 1948 American

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 directed by

Ray Taylor (director) Raymond Edgar Taylor (1 December 1888 – 15 February 1952) was an American film director. He directed 159 films between 1926 and 1949. His debut was the 1926 film serial ''Fighting with Buffalo Bill''. Ray Taylor was one of the few Hollyw ...

and starring

Richard Arlen Richard Arlen (born Sylvanus Richard Mattimore, September 1, 1899 – March 28, 1976) was an American actor of film and television. Biography Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Arlen attended the University of Pennsylvania. He served in Canada as a ...

Plot

Pop Marlowe owns a horse ranch and his daughters help maintain it. Judy Marlow runs the ranch, and sister Pat helps with the chores. When Pat is injured while trying to capture the wild horse Wildfire, drifter Dobe Williams helps her get back home. Pat asks Pop to give Dobe a job, and in return he agrees to help Pat catch Wildfire. Frank Keller, the ranch foreman, has fallen on hard times after losing $6,000 at the local saloon owned by Marty Quinn. Knowing that Keller is courting Judy, and that the ranch has plenty of horses, Quinn tells Keller to buy about 500 head of the Marlowe's breeding stock to repay the debt. The problem is that Pop knows Quinn, and is aware that he only wants the horses so that he can monopolize the market and drive prices up. Quinn reminds Keller that should anything happen to Pop, that his girlfriend Judy will inherit the ranch. As Pat and Dobe become closer, Wildfire frees all the ranch's herd, and the ranch hands must round up all the horses. During the round-up Keller beats Pop, trusting that the herd of rushing horses will kill him. In the aftermath Judy flirts with Dobe, Keller and Pat get jealous, and Judy agrees to sell the herd to Quinn. Dobe leaves town, but after Judy and Pat reconcile they head out after him to apologize. When Dobe asks the saloon owner to sell the horses back, Quinn gets angry and pistol whips him. Judy still wants to break Dobe and Pat up, but the pair work on catching and taming the wild herd of horses that Wildfire leads, and soon the ranch has 300 horses broken in. Quinn doesn't want those horses sold, and blackmails Keller with his knowledge of Pop Marlowe's murder. Keller gets all the ranch hands drunk to slow down the ranch's work at taming the wild horses. Dobe finds out that Quinn is trying to hire the ranch hands out from under the Marlows, forces the hands back to the ranch with his six-shooter, and sobers them up. Quinn and his gang storm the ranch and Pat is injured in the raid. Quinn orders Keller to trap Wildfire so he won't lead the other horses out into the wild. When horse and man come face to face, Wildfire stomps Keller to death. Dobe then goes after Wildfire thinking he's herded the horses out into the wild, but Judy rushes to tell Dobe that Pat is recovering nicely, and that Quinn is actually the one who is responsible. Quinn eventually shoots and wounds Wildfire while Dobe is driving the herd back to the ranch. Dobe then goes after the bad guys and defeats them in a drawn out fight. As Wildfire recovers Judy stops interfering with Dobe and Pat. Wildfire is then released back to the wide open as Dobe and Pat more forward with their relationship.

Cast

as Dobe Williams *

Patricia Morison Eileen Patricia Augusta Fraser Morison (March 19, 1915 – May 20, 2018) was an American stage, television and film actress of the Golden Age of Hollywood and mezzo-soprano singer. She made her feature film debut in 1939 after several years on ...

as Pat Marlowe *

Mary Beth Hughes Mary Elizabeth Hughes (November 13, 1919 Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. . P. 586. – August 27, 1995) was an American film, television, a ...

as Judy Marlowe *

James Millican James Millican (February 17, 1911 – November 24, 1955) was an American actor with over 200 film appearances mostly in western movies. Millican was the son of Fred S. Millican, a circus owner, and Dorothy Millican. Millican was a clos ...

as Frank Keller *

Reed Hadley Reed Hadley (born Reed Herring, June 25, 1911 – December 11, 1974) was an American film, television and radio actor. Early life Hadley was born in Petrolia, Texas, to Bert Herring, an oil well driller, and his wife Minnie. Hadley had one ...

as Marty Quinn * Chris-Pin Martin as Pancho *

Stanley Andrews Stanley Andrews (born Stanley Martin Andrzejewski; August 28, 1891 – June 23, 1969) was an American actor perhaps best known as the voice of Daddy Warbucks on the radio program ''Little Orphan Annie'' and later as "The Old Ranger", the first ...

as Pop Marlowe * Mike Ragan as Dirk - Henchman (as Holly Bane) * Highland Dale as Wildfire - the Horse

References

External links

*
''Black Stallion''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of A ...

''Black Stallion''
at BFI {{DEFAULTSORT:Return Of Wildfire 1948 films American Western (genre) films Films directed by Ray Taylor Films scored by Albert Glasser 1948 Western (genre) films Lippert Pictures films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films