review for Code of the West on AllMovie

It is worth noting that James Warren did not earn above-title billing in this, his last of three RKO Westerns. Warren, of course, was a replacement for the studio's resident Western hero, Tim Holt, who had been in the service since 1943 and was now filming John Ford's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). He was actually a more than adequate substitute, but he just he didn't possess Holt's boyish charms. His debut, Wanderer of the Wasteland (1946), had been rather dull. Code of the West, in contrast, proved a fine Zane Grey Western with a great villain in the very young Raymond Burr. Both Burr and Warren were tall men, the latter cast in the Gary Cooper mold, and their confrontations were the kind that kids of all ages looked for. John Laurenz replaced Richard Martin as Chito Rafferty, RKO's resident sidekick, but he did not make anyone forget the handsome Martin, and the film's best comedy lines were instead awarded to the veteran Emmett Lynn as the local doctor. Despite looking more the ideal Zane Grey hero than Tim Holt, James Warren finished his brief Western stint with this film. The embarrassing Gloria Swanson misfire Three for Bedroom C (1953) was still waiting in the wings, however.