Bob Wallace, who plays the Cheyenne Kid, has the screen presence of an oyster in a movie filled with implausible moments, clichéd villains and lots of moral messages for the children. “Return of the Cheyenne Kid: Episode 1 — Cheyenne Enters” tries to go for that old movie serial feel. It’s also a western, and these days a western has to be extremely well done to be effective. Granted, the old serials were cheesy and full of plot holes, so the movie succeeds in that fashion, but this needs more passion and a more intelligent script. Having the Cheyenne kid come out of retirement to find his old partner, who has been kidnapped because he won’t give up the deed to his mine, is just so tired. Wallace’s acting, which is right on par for an old serial, reminds me why so few people like those movies anymore: The heroes are too stiff and one-dimensional. At least this movie’s Wild Bill Hickock (John Powell) is interesting to watch, though he isn’t the focus of the film.
On a more positive note, if you can make it through this movie and some of its needless extras, you’ll see this special stunt segment the director and his friends did back when they were teens. The stuff these guys pulled off is amazing. Not only are they falling from buildings, leaping through trees and being thrown from cars, they are also setting themselves on fire! Did they have any idea how dangerous that was? I doubt it. At least that was fun to watch, though, while “Return of the Cheyenne Kid” is strictly for western serial buffs with no internal quality control.
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John Powell was a friend from high school. What a joy to see him perform. Very talented. Love to see more of him