The Traitor (1936)

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In his final Western for Poverty Row company Puritan Pictures, Tim McCoy played a Texas Ranger going undercover in order to flush out a certain Big George (J. Frank Glendon), the leader of a gang of heroin smugglers. Pretending to have been kicked out of the ranger corps, Tim follows henchmen Pedro… More In his final Western for Poverty Row company Puritan Pictures, Tim McCoy played a Texas Ranger going undercover in order to flush out a certain Big George (J. Frank Glendon), the leader of a gang of heroin smugglers. Pretending to have been kicked out of the ranger corps, Tim follows henchmen Pedro Moreno (Pedro Regas) and The Texas Kid (Frank Melton) to the "Flying A Ranch." The Kid proved to be Jimmy Allen, the wayward brother of ranch owner Mary Allen (Frances Grant). With the assistance of sheepherder José Ramos (Julian Rivero), who is Tim's liaison with ranger captain John Hughes (Karl Hackett), Tim infiltrates Big George's smuggling ring which operates out of the Blue Cat Cantina. In a final battle with Big George and his gang, Moreno, Captain Hughes, and Jimmy are all mortally wounded, the latter begging his sister to forgive him for his past crimes. Unaware of his real identity, Ranger Smoky (Jack Rockwell) arrests Tim as the sole survivor of the gang, but a letter from Hughes vindicates the lawman. Although Tim is a free man, Smoky playfully locks Mary up in the cell with him. His Puritan contract coming to an end, McCoy signed with William Pizor, perhaps Hollywood's shoddiest entrepreneur. Pizor almost immediately reneged on the deal and McCoy sued. The case was finally settled in McCoy's favor in 1939, but the Pizor contract kept the popular cowboy hero off the screen for the remainder of 1936 and all of 1937. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi