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There are no two ways about it, Phantom Cowboy is a bad film,
but one that's bad in the weird department, so in a way it's totally
enjoyable. I think the best way to enjoy Phantom Cowboy is to
follow the story of a ligher that features prominently in the film, which
is why I put some emphasis of my synopsis on this innocent little thing: A
stagecoach is held up by the Phantom Cowboy, and among the things
he steals is a lighter belonging to one James Rogers (James
Sheridan). Later, the Phantom Cowboy sees two drifters, Bill (Ted Wells)
and Pete (Jimmy Aubrey) take a bath in a pond in their underwear, and he
steals their cloths and horses, but leaves their boots behind. Wandering
through the prairie looking for their cloths, Bill and Pete stumble upon a
hut, invite themselves to dinner - and find out their host is actually the
Phantom Cowboy. He agrees to return their cloths and horses if they do the
dishes (this Phantom Cowboy sure hates housework). Later, the Phantom
Cowboy shaves off his mustache and turns out to be the splitting image of
Bill. The Cowboy tells Bill and Pete that he's actually an honest
prospector, and he only moonlights as the Phantom Cowboy - and he asks
Bill to take over from him, to help him settle the score with one saloon
owner Buck Houston (George Chesebro) - and as a token of their friendship,
he gives Bill the lighter he stole from James. At Buck's saloon,
Bill gets awfully friendly with dancer Ruth (Doris Brook), James' sister
whose life he once saved - much to the dismay of Buck, who wants her for
himself. James is now a member of Buck's gang. At one point, he tries to
give a light to Buck's right hand man Hank (Richard Cramer) using his lighter
(he's not supposed to have, right?). When the lighter fails to
work, Hank takes it from James and throws it away. Later, Hank and Buck
want to rob the local bank, but they find the safe already emptied - but
next to it, they find James' lighter, and Hank, the very man who
took the lighter from James and threw it away, now figures James
must have robbed the bank ahead of them - which he hasn't, he has actually
blown the whislte on Buck and Hank. With Buck and Hank mighty angry,
Bill, Pete, Ruth and James get out of town and quick, always pursued by
Buck, Hank and gang who are in turn on the run from the Sheriff (Frank
Clark) and his posse. Somehow the Phantom Cowboy gets back in on the act,
is gravely injured, and only just makes it back to his hut, where he meets
up with Bill, Pete, Ruth and James. Already more dead than alive he admits
to having robbed the bank ahead of Buck and Hank but has stolen the lighter
from James' room (even though he wasn't supposed to have it again)
because ... well, that part completely escaped me. Pretty much the
Cowboy's last words are that he wants to get even with Buck, and ... enter
Buck, whom the Cowboy comfortably shoots from his deathbed, then he dies
himself. Not surprisingly, Bill gets the girl, and I presume James gets
his lighter back, though that's not shown. I think after
reading my synopsis you know what I'm talking about concerning the
lighter, but that's not the only wonderful thing about the film - there's
also this wonderful idea of having the movie's hero and sidekick run
through the prairie in underwear and boots, having them do the dishes,
having the Phantom Cowboy claim he's actually an honest man and only
moonlights as outlaw, there's teh plot that refuses to tell a
comprehensible story, there's the Phantom Cowboy's atrociously fake
mustache, Ted Wells' extremely wooden performance, and, as if to offset
it, Jimmy Aubrey's horrible overacting as his sidekick. None of these
elements work the way they should, nor do they make much sense, but all of
them thrown together in a shoestring budget Western tale make up for an
hour (well 50 minutes) of excellent so-bad-it's-good entertainment. Bad
Western masochists (like myself) will love Phantom Cowboy!!!
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find The Phantom Cowboy at adultvideouniverse.com
