Rawhide

Gold, greed and revenge are the basic themes of these five bloody tales from the prolific Flynn (whose most famous story, 1954's The Man from Laramie, later was a major film starring James Stewart). ""Conquistador's Gold"" (1933) finds restless cowboy Howdy McFee suddenly ambushed and framed for murder. He barely escapes a lynch mob before teaming up with a cripple, a goofy old miner and a beautiful girl to blast the bad guys out of their boots. In ""The Rawhide Kid"" (1934), 16-year-old Laramie Scott pairs up with veteran gunman Holy Joe Moran to protect a cache of hidden gold and rid the Texas border of a large number of Mexican bandidos. ""Wild Wind, Brave Wind"" (1936) is the most thoughtful of these stories. Bad luck forces cowman Tom Lanyard into hiring on with the sheepmen, forcing a range war with his cattlemen friends. The best mystery is in ""Devil's Brand"" (1950), in which a young cowboy wins a cattle ranch in a poker game only to discover he's also won a heap of trouble. ""The Rawhide Kid Returns"" (1936) brings Laramie Scott and Holy Joe Moran together again, below the border, still protecting their gold and each other and launching numerous two-legged varmints into eternity. Without the story strength of Zane Grey, Max Brand or Ernest Haycox, this is simple western entertainment true to pulp formula. (Nov.)