The Cisco Kid and the Lady

The first of six films in which Cesar Romero took over the O Henry character - now more insouciant lover than ruthless outlaw - from Warner Baxter. Intent on some horse rustling, the Kid finds himself falling heir to an orphaned baby and part of a map to a gold mine, for which the villain (Barrat) had murdered the baby's prospector father. Falling for the new schoolteacher (Weaver), who helps him look after the baby he now regards as his son, the Kid is not displeased when her tight-assed fiancé (Montgomery) misunderstands the situation on arriving from the East. However, realising in the process of routing the villain that the young couple still love each other, the Kid promotes a marriage at gunpoint, presents them with baby and gold mine, and rides off into the sunset with the saloon girl (Field) he intends to marry - to someone else. Unexpectedly, the result has a shaggy-dog charm, with free-wheeling performances (except from the appallingly inept Montgomery) and several sequences benefiting from their air of having been semi-improvised.