The Boiling Point

Future Academy Award-winner Hattie McDaniel briefly brightened the proceedings in this, one of her two B-Western appearances in 1932. (The other was George O'Brien's The Golden West.) The rotund African-American comedienne portrays a cook on a ranch belonging to banker Tom Kirk (Lafe McKee). Also working on the premises is Jimmy Duncan (Hoot Gibson), an unruly young man who has promised his Uncle George (George Hayes) he will behave (or else...!). Treacherous bank teller Holt Narbrough (Wheeler Oakman), who not only desires Kirk's ranch, but also his pretty daughter, Laura (Helen Foster), attempts to rid himself of an irritating rival by constantly picking fights with Jimmy. The latter, however, is steadfast in his resolve and soon becomes the laughing stock among the ranch hands. In the end, Jimmy earns both Laura's love and Uncle George's respect by foiling a bank robbery. The Boiling Point was one in a series of cheap Westerns Hoot Gibson made for low-budget company Allied Pictures from 1931 to 1933. Gibson, whose generosity was legendary, found employment for old friends such as Roy "Skeeter Bill" Robbins and Fred Gilman in all of his Allied films, including The Boiling Point.